Thursday, August 5, 2010

Improving our eating

Since January it seems that we have had a run of health issues - nothing serious, just annoying colds, infections, etc. I can't help but think that by improving our eating we can improve our overall health. I've slowly been making steps to eat more whole foods, cook better quality foods and just overhaul our diet.

However, with a husband and two kids I can't do it all at once - I'd have mutiny on my hands. So, I've been taking little steps. A few things I've done so far:

- Cut back on buying processed food, and when I still buy it, find a healthier alternative.

- Found a local source for farm fresh, free range, pastured eggs.

- Switched to whole wheat flour (started at half and half, then 3/4 to 1/4, now full).

- Started soaking grains to aide in digestion (still working on this one)

- Replaced most oils with coconut and olive oil

There are still a lot of changes I want to make - I'm looking for a source for grass fed beef and organically fed pigs. If I can find that, I plan on buying 1/4 to 1/2 for our freezer. I did just find a source for pastured, organically raised chickens at a good price and I'm picking up 5 for the freezer Monday. I'll attempt to start using those instead of boneless, skinless breasts from the supermarket.

My plan for the rest of the year is to make one small change a week. This week it has been soaking grains. I made the best soaked whole wheat pancakes this morning - my son asked for seconds. Tonight I'll attempt soaking brown rice for dinner tomorrow night. The soaking only takes seconds, but it does require some advance planning. Eventually I hope to eliminate most (if not all) of our processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, msg, etc. I hope that by this time next year, my pantry and fridge will look dramatically different and we'll be well on the way to a healthier lifestyle!

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