Our Healthy Eating Journey Pt. 1
By
I hear from so many of you about where you are in your healthy eating journey and about how so many of you want to begin eating (and feeding your families) a healthier diet.
Some of you are in the “Dorito…Hamburger Helper…Twinkie…Jelly Beans are the only vegetable I eat…Please help me I have no idea where to start”…phase.
Some of you are in the “Okay, I pitched all my processed foods in the trash…My pantry now holds a couple of shriveled potatoes and a half a peanut…What should I do now?”…phase.
Some of you are in the “I just came home from the store with a package of brown rice, some bananas, a bag of whole wheat flour and a pound of butter…What in the world am I supposed to do I do with it?”…phase.
Some of you are in the “We’re getting there…I’m just trying to convince my family that eating vegetables and whole wheat bread is cool”…phase.
Some of you are in the “I’ve been feeding my family healthy food forever and I just need new recipes”…phase.
Some of you have been working to eat healthy for years longer than I have and are in the “Here Laura, let me teach you a thing or two about fermenting your pickles”…phase.
We’re all on our own journey to healthy eating. No two family situations are the same.
Many of you may assume that our family has been eating a healthy diet forever. When I receive your emails or read your comments that say, “I have no idea where to start when it comes to eating healthy - I didn’t grow up eating healthy the way you did”….it makes me realize that I haven’t told you enough about our healthy eating journey.
We actually only started caring about eating healthy just a very few years ago. Before that time, my pantry was full of boxed cereal and spaghettios and whatever else I could get for cheap or free with coupons.
And oh my goodness…did you know that I am absolutely and very much a recovering Pepsi addict?
Over the next few weeks, I plan to share our family’s healthy eating journey with you. I’ll tell you what my husband and I grew up eating and I’ll share how we ate when we were first married and as our children started coming along.
I’ll share what made us want to make changes in our diets…how we went about making the changes…how we could afford it…how we convinced our kids that eating healthy was delicious…I’ll even share about how I was able once and for all give up Pepsi.
Then, after I finish those posts, I’ll launch into a new series on the basics of Making Foods from Scratch…so that EVERYONE can see that it IS possible to eat a healthy diet without breaking the bank or breaking your back or breaking a nail. (Though I do sometimes have bread dough or garden soil under my nails.)
I would love for you to leave a comment to let us know where you are in your healthy eating journey. Knowing where you are will help me know exactly where I need to go with some of my future posts. Plus, I think it will be great for all of us to see that we are on this journey together, even if we’re in different places. I think we can all use encouragement, no matter where we are in the journey! Thanks!
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This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.
I am so blessed. I got a grain mill and a Bosch for Christmas from “everyone.” But I look at them and just feel overwhelmed. I try really hard to bring good ingredients into my house: organic meats, hormone free dairy, veggies and fruit. I shop through Azure, have a local CSA box in the summer, get raw milk weekly through a farm, get hand-outs of eggs, honey, and grass-fed beef from my mom’s chickens, bees, and half-cow, and take advantage of Costco and Fred Meyers organic offerings. I eat brown rice, whole-wheat flour, beans, organic corn chips. It is expensive sometimes, but little-by-little I am replacing junk with good stuff.
My enemy is time and energy. We often have a convenience meal in the freezer for nights I wouldn’t cook otherwise and at least once a week we grab food out–usually fast. :( I feel so guilty about that when I have a freezer full of organic meats, but I am trying not to be perfectionist and do what I can. I also struggle with a sweettooth.
I really appreciate your recipes. They are usually quick, simple, and have ingredients that I have on hand. Plus my husband (who is not picky, but prefers meals with meat and a non-stressed wife) likes them. I could always use more of those! Especially the one dish kind. And I want to start really getting everyone’s money’s worth out of my new Bosch and mill! Tips for those would be a blessing too, thanks!
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Debbie Reply:
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I know how hard it is to try to eat right when you are tired, stressed or in a time crunch. One of the things my husband and I did to eliminate this problem is to have a “cooking day”, usually on a Saturday when we both work in the kitchen to make meals to put in the freezer and be able to use quickly. It makes the cooking fun and helps my husband understand how hard it can be to make quick healthy meals. One of our favorites is to make a red pasta sauce then we can take it out of the freezer and in the time it takes to cook the pasta and make a veggie the sauce is reheated in a saucepan and your quick, easy, healthy dinner is ready to put on the table.
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Andrea Reply:
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Thanks, Debbie. Those are good ideas. :)
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Good information here. I enjoyed reading this and can’t wait for more. Keep up the good work.
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I just started reading this series and I’m curious to see how you do it all and save money. We are a low income family (meaning we are on supplamental income, WIC) and I do find it hard to buy better food options.
I guess ‘where I’m at’ is I make our dinners from scratch. I don’t do Hamburger Helper, ect. But I do buy granola bars /fruit bars for the boys. And they eat cereal. I love to bake so I do bake most of our sweets (cookies/cakes for special occasions), from scratch. Through WIC we get our bread, milk, cheese, peanut butterand cereal. We also get 12$ worth of veggies a month, which is my favorite ‘help’. My boys (18 mths and 3.5 yrs) are so very picky, especially my oldest. I know that is mostly mine and my husbands fault. Yes, I fell into the trap of becoming a short order cook! And we are suffering from that now. But I desperately want to feed my family healthy meals and have good eaters! I look forward to reading the rest of the series!
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I’m very curious to read your posts. We’re on a tight budget and while I’m working on getting my husband on a healthier lifestyle (he’s been an over the road trucker for almost 18 years so was way out of shape before we even started dating), I have to be careful of how much I spend on groceries. The kids & I love eating healthier choices and my husband is getting there, but its so hard to be able to afford the healthier options at the stores, especially during the winter when its all out of season. I don’t have a whole lot of time either because of being in college but I’m always wanting to learn more recipes I can feel good about feeding my family.
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