The first step to eating clean

Get rid of all your processed foods. That's what I did. I gave away boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of food. I wish I had before-and-after pictures so you could see the loads of food I gave away. As a compulsive food hoarder, my fridge, pantry, cupboards, and freezer were completely full.  Yo'know, just in case.   In one day, the kitchen went from totally full to completely empty.   Bye, bye, bad stuff.

P.S.  My kids practically cried on this day.  Oh well, they got over it.

These are just some of the items we gave away.  Can you imagine your kitchen and your life without these foods?   Yes, life goes on, even without French toast sticks.

ketchup
mayonaaise
margarine
I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray
syrup
peanut butter
jams and jellies
frozen waffles
frozen mini pancakes
frozen French toast sticks
frozen tater tots and french fries
icecream
icecream bars and icecream sundaes
popscicles
Hershey's chocolate sauce
apple cider packets
hot chocolate packets
tubs of frosting
gogurts
boxes of brownies
Slim Fast shakes
granola bars
oatmeal packets
granola cereal
all cereal, yes, all
Classic Bread's white bread
Classic Bread's cinnamon swirl bread.....still miss this one  :(
mango salsa
au gratin potatoes
gravy mixes
Hamburger Helper
A-1 steak sauce
Fruit by the Foot
fruit snacks
Peppridge Farms fish crackers
wheat thin
triscuits
saltines
potato chips
tortilla chips
bagels
barbecue sauce
Jello pudding
Jello gelatin ( a lot of these)
hot dogs
bacon
sausage
All marinating sauces and mixes


I know there's more, but I can't remember everything, it seems like so long ago.  Basically, I dispensed of any item containing sugar, corn syrup, high frutose corn syrup, artifical coloring, additives, chemicals, too much sodium, nitrites, nitrates, gelatin, and other perservatives.

The benefits of giving away all this crap:
If I just gave ten boxes of macaroni and cheese away I'm not going to feel like buying more the next time I'm at the store.  See how that works?  I've been motivated because I made an investment.  I gave away hundreds of dollars of food and I am not going to ruin that by buying that crap again. 
Secondly, I'm forced to start now.  There's no procrastinating.  This "eat clean" thing begins now or we starve to death.  Better buy some produce, beans, organic lean meats, and learn how to cook asap.    That's step two.  More on that later......

Build a Foundation, Find Your Motivation

The knowledge I gained from reading and research gave me the foundation I needed to begin my jouney.  I wanted to not only look better, but to feel better, and have better health and longevity.  More than that I wanted to give my children a chance at a good life.  I didn't want to be the reason they suffered from depression, disease, fatigue, learning disabilities, ADHD, obesity, low self-esteem, infertility, miscarriage, cancer, low sex drive, etc.  I was motivated to nourish my children to give them the best fighting chance.  I wanted to teach them what it meant to eat and nourish the body with real, whole foods, the foods God intended them to eat.  So that's what got me going.  And here's how I did it.

Starting the journey

How it all began
Okay folks, you're in for a real treat.  I have somewhat of an announcement to make.  Here it is......making dinner doesn't suck....as much.  You may wonder what has brought on this sudden change when making dinner has sucked for me ever since I began cooking 13 years ago.  Well let me just tell you that I have turned over a new leaf.  In fact I feel like a totally different person.  I do things completely different than I used to. 

Let me explain how it all started.  It all began four months ago, the first week of June 2010, when I was at home minding my own business when I suddenly felt compelled to go to Costco and buy a book.  I was reading an article about Tosca Reno in the Costco Connection magazine when it suddenly dawn on me that I needed her new book called Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook.   Call it divine inspiration (that's what I call it) or call it whatever you like, but I went to Costco and made one purchase.  It wasn't Tosca Reno's cookbook (they didn't have it in stock yet) but I didn't want to walk out empty-handed since I had felt prompted to go.  I picked up Jillian Michael's book called "Master Your Metabolism."  I'd never heard of it, but what the heck,  I'd never heard of Tosca Reno either and never heard the term "eating clean."  I was completely oblivious (probably because I don't watch Oprah or any TV or read magazines).  I just had a feeling I needed that book.

Little did I know the book I was buying would change my life and the life of my family.  Everything I read in her book just made sense to me.  Even though it all made sense to me it was all completely NEW to me.  The concepts and principles about how our body functions on hormones and WHY healthy nutrition is so important and HOW it is bad for us was unlike anything I had ever read or heard before.  I usually don't do anything unless I know WHY I have to do it.    This is why geometry was so difficulty for me in high school.  Now WHY do I need to know this?  How is this supposed to help me in life??  Because my teacher never provided me with an answer, I continued to struggle.

Jillian taught me, thoroughly taught me, why it is so important to be free of additives, free of preservatives, free of artificial flavors and colors, free of chemicals, free of pesticides, etc.  It's not a good idea just because it's a good idea.  It's vitally important to our physical health and mental health.  It's vital to our well-being.  That stuff will absolutely kill us.  And before we die from it first it makes us sick.  Jillian explains how that happens in her book.   How and why it leads to various cancers, autoimmune diseases, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, mental illness, chronic fatigue, etc, etc, etc.  Who wants all that crap and who doesn't want to be well?  Who doesn't want their children to be well?

After I finished reading her book I got a little frustrated that I didn't know any of this information before reading her book.  Why didn't I know all of this before?   I think because the way I was raised and the world that I've always lived in has pushed me away to something unnatural without me even knowing it was unnatural for me.  Society led me to believe that the stuff you can buy from the grocery store is what you eat.  You buy it and take it home and eat it.  It was that simple.  What I didn't realize what that it was UNNATURAL, UNHEALTHY, and WRONG on so many levels.

I have many, many ideas why this has happened.  (Remember I always wonder why about everything.  That's part of why I am so annoying to be around).  I won't get into that now.  Maybe another post.   Once I had a foundation about why I should eat healthy foods I was motivated to make a change.    More about my journey later. . .

Maybe I'm not cut out for steel cut oats

If you're thinking I'm a great cook now that I'm cooking more often you are dead wrong.  Actually it was me who was almost dead.  I nearly burned down the house with what happened last week.  I burned my steel cut oats on Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and yes, Monday morning.  Three days in a row.  Imagine.....thick smoke in the house, a blackend, ruined pan, a horrible smell that doesn't go away even with the windows open, and no breakfast. 

Why did you keep burning them day after day you wonder?  Because after I did it the first time I thought there was no way I could do that again.  And then after I did it a second time I thought now there's really no way I could possibly burn it two days in a row.  Then after I burned it the second time I thought surely there is no way I could possibly burn it three days in a row.  The third day was actually the worst. 

Why do you burn your oatmeal day after day you wonder?  Because oatmeal takes ten minutes to cook on the stove and I can't stand to be in the kitchen that long.  Besides, my kids have me running all over the house getting them clothes, socks, shoes, coats, backpacks, wiping their bottoms, and putting toothpaste on their toothbrushes.  So you see there's not time to watch oatmeal cook.  I always walk away.  And because I have absolutely no memory these days (seriously it's as bad as my sisters was when she was in the hospital, now that's saying something).  Anyway, being smart, well kinda smart, I set the timer on the third try so when I walked away from the oatmeal I would be reminded by the timer to take the oatmeal off the stove.  The problem is I set the time on the timer but forget to push start.

You can put me away now.  I'm ready to sign the papers.   Do you think they have oatmeal in the hospital?

Just passing along for a friend of mine.  It's a  chance to earn free food credits from a new company called E Foods Global.  Check out the link if you're interested.

Just say no to couponing

Have you ever noticed what you can buy with a coupon?  Crap.  That's what.

So just say no to couponing and don't do it.  Don't buy the crap that doesn't nourish your mind and body.  There's nothing in there but chemicals.  That's why they sell it to you for next to nothing.  It's not food.  Nobody planted it, grew it, or harvested it.  If it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground don't eat it.  Period.

Do you really need 20 boxes of brownies?

Caution : Major road changes ahead

This blog is about to undergo a major transformation.  Don't get me wrong, making dinner still sucks, that much is true.  It just sucks in a different way now that I've discovered healthy cooking.  When I cook dinner for my family now I feel a real satisfaction and joy that I have fed them something other than crap.  By "crap" I mean processed foods.  I call them all crap.  Some people all them "anti-foods" but I prefer the term "crap."  That's what I used to feed my family and I am ashamed.  So ashamed.  I cringe when I think of all the goldfish crackers I let my kids eat.  Ahhh!  Now that I know what that crap does to you I am freaked.

But like Dr. Phil always says, "When you know better you do better."  And I know better now.  But believe me the process of making dinner still sucks.  It takes forever and you have to be totally organized.  You have to make everything fresh and you have to meal plan and grocery shop like every other day.

Stay tuned and I'll try and keep you up to date on this crazy journey I'm on.