I know I'm weird, please bear with me.

Okay, so the food resolution. The one I started before New Year's. (see previous post if you are confused).

My goal is to go as natural and organic as possible (within our tight budget, of course) and get our systems cleaned out and ready to take on all the toxins the come our way. The toxins bit is a whole other story, so for right now, I'll just stick to with the food part.

After many years of reading and research, and while I am still reading and researching, I've decided on a few guidelines.

~More raw fruits and veggies. I am transitioning fruits and veggies to be 70% of what we eat. I bought a Champion juicer, which I love, and so we are doing the whole juicing thing too. Not every single day, but 3-4 days a week we have fresh juice.

~Food combinations. Eat fruit alone, when possible. Eat veggies with anything. Keep protein and starch separate, when feasible. For instance, if we have steak we have steamed veggies, not a baked potato.

~Reduce refined sugar, eliminate high fructose corn syrup. I rarely buy anything with HFCS in it. I eliminated MSG (mono sodium glutamate) long ago. These two ingredients are pervasive in prepared foods.

~Buy organic milk. Expensive, yes, but to me, worth it. Finally found a brand that is not only yummy, but the least expensive of all the brands.

~Eat whole grains. Love the new "white" whole wheat flour from King Arthur and Eagle Mills.

~Reduce and eliminate processed foods. Already have this down to a minimum, but still can do better.

~Eliminate pop/soda and junk food. Not that we were eating much of this before. Every now and then is fine by me as a treat. Especially if we're going out to eat or over to someone's house, etc. I've never actually bought junk food or soda a regular basis from the grocery store, (never had enough in the budget), so this transition is easy. The kids prefer juice or water anyway.

So far, it is going really well! The kids really haven't noticed much of a change, except that there are less crackers around. I normally will buy Cheeze-Its or Kashi TLC brand or Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, if they are on sale. These are nice for snacking, and relatively healthy. I am phasing out the Saltines. I keep lots of celery and carrots on hand for quick munching. I'll make dip occasionally, which makes the veggies go even faster.

There are so many reasons I decided to do this. I can say for the last 5 years I've been headed this way anyway. I am more resolved to make a bigger change now. It's not about denying myself or my family "good" things to eat but about enjoying the real food that is out there.


The best thing about eating this way is that I can still do this on my budget from before. I just switched where I was spending the money.

I can already tell a significant difference in my stomach, hooray! My body has responded great to this new way of eating. Now I just need to get this exercise thing down consistently.