Friday, June 7, 2013

Food, I hate you....Just kidding...kind of...



I have a love/hate relationship with food and recipes. The more I read about food, the more I'm freaked by what I feed my family. My newest freakout: Thinking about reducing our processed foods even further by trying to buy things with less than 5 ingredients. That is if I can't make it myself....

I'm slowly going insane...and I realize its self inflicted. I know they'll survive if I don't go healthy crazy, but if I have the ability to make healthier choices for them I should. I grew up on the convenience foods. Frozen veggies, cooked in the microwave....in their plastic bag....Hamburger helper, don't even get me started.

Even when Hubs and I first got married, my cooking wasn't healthy. I wasn't accustomed to researching the nutrition facts, or really ever reading a label. Avid label readers are on diets, if you don't have to worry about it, don't. Oh brother!

When we got back to California, we heard an interesting diet. Shop only on the outside isles of the grocery store. The reason being that's where the produce, meats, and dairy is located, but hardly any of the processed or "convenience" ingredients. In hindsight, that was probably the start of the "paleo" type diet trend.

I think that's where I really started thinking about food and health. But, it didn't last. Life happened, we had jobs, school, then kids, a house...life happened quick! There wasn't time for real food, we ate out a lot, lots of frozen meals, and the ever famous hamburger helper.

It started with taking a picture of my son eating fast food for lunch, and not wanting to post that picture because I was embarrassed by what he was eating. It had no fruit, or veggies, it wasn't homemade, and it most certainly did not nourish him like it should. Did he survive? Of course, but that was my sign, we should be eating better.

The changes happened slowly, cutting out one bad choice at a time. Fresh vegetables became more of a staple, and not a treat or really a trouble to prepare. Methods of cooking included healthy oils, I discovered coconut oil, and most recently ghee for roasting the veggies. Table salt is gone in favor of low processed sea salt and pink salt. And learning to enjoy the flavor of vegetables, with the simple joys of fresh garlic and salt, passed on to the kids. A proud moment for me!

There are so many things I'm proud we have changed, but there are still a few I'd love to get rid of. It's hard to be completely free of the processed foods, but I am one of those label readers.

Am I neurotic? My husband would say YES, but I'm making what I feel are the best choices for my family.

Challenge for you readers:
Next time you pick up your sour cream, any of your favorite brands, look at the ingredients.
Report back here with what you find, and tell me if you were surprised.