Cleaning up my eatin'

My family has always been kind of 50/50 with the healthy vs. junk food thing.  Although, I have to also say that McDonald's is (was?) one of my favorite places to eat and the Big Mac my favorite thing to eat there.  I've raised my boys, who are now 16 & 11, to love fast food too.  However, dinnertime at our house was, in the past, "okay."

Around August of 2011, I started having weird breathing issues.  I started going to see doctors and received a new diagnosis and a few new prescriptions at each visit!  There was a point where I would leave with drugs for my physical symptoms and drugs for anxiety.  One visit was to a pulmonologist (lung dr.) who told me I had acid reflux which began a series of acid reflux meds beginning with omeprazole all the way to Dexilant.  I eventually ended up in the E/R at 3AM one morning with excruciating stomach pain.  But I digress...

The very day that I saw the pulmonary doc, I cleaned up my eating habits and began eating lots of fruits and vegetables, juicing, etc.  I didn't force it on my family at that point, but, over the next three months, I lost almost 20 pounds.  I really didn't need to lose weight; my initial weight was 152 and now I weigh about 136 or so.  I'm 5' 8".

Anyway, near the end of this whole ordeal, my good friend K found www.100daysofrealfood.com and made the 10 Day Pledge on the site.  I went by her house one afternoon and she had a huge tub full of all of her processed food ready to give away.  I checked out the site and, though I didn't take the pledge, really liked the simple, straight-forwardness of the guidelines there.  And now, we're trying to eat as many whole foods as possible.  I have to say that I don't buy organic most of the time.  My husband and I both feel that most of these items are overpriced and over-hyped.  We just do the best we can with the goal of staying away from processed foods.  So far the exceptions are French vanilla coffee creamer and Doritos.

I've really enjoyed learning how to make as many things as possible from scratch and like to share what I've learned.  So come back and visit or follow me on pinterest.  Learn how to make homemade pizza here!