Day 2-The Joys of Real Food

As I previously stated, not only am I working on losing weight, I'm also working on becoming healthier.  One very obvious change is the actual food we eat.  'We' includes myself, Hubs and my 6 year-old stepson. 

I, like every other working person out there, have relied on convenience foods a lot.  They're cheap and easy.  I mean, with a box of "Ground Beef Assistant", one can have a hot meal on the table in about 15 minutes.  But easy and cheap has a down side.  That box of cheeseburger macaroni is filled with so many chemicals even a scientist would be amazed.  Cheap meat is filled with hormones, antibiotics and let's face it, cheap meat comes from animals who are treated very poorly.  Not exactly what I'd call healthy.

Healthy also doesn't mean being a slave to some crazy diet.  No carb, low carb, low fat, high protein, count every morsel you eat, count calories, eat 3 meals a day, eat 6 meals a day, !  Whew!  I'm exhausted just thinking about all that!  It seems like an obsessive way of thinking, which, again, doesn't seem very healthy to me.

Real food is the key to real heath. I am 100% convinced of this.  We've gotten so far away from real food that we have forgotten what it is, much less what it taste like.  I have a great example. 

Last year, I started going to the local farmer's market.  I discovered a local organic dairy so I bought a gallon of their milk.  It was from organic, grass-fed, pasture raised cows.  The cream had not been taken out and OMG!  This stuff was amazing!  Sure, it was more expensive than the milk from the grocery store but was worth every single penny.  It was delicious and me, a lifelong non-milk drinker, was converted.

Another good example is the humble egg.  I showed my Hubs the difference between a regular store-bought egg and eggs from chickens who were raised in the sunshine, eating organic feed, greens, and bugs.  He was very surprised to see that the real eggs had yolks that were a beautiful dark orange and the whites were thick compared to light yellow yolks and runny whites.  Lesson learned.

So yes, healthy food is real food.  Here is an excellent website to help you understand the concepts.  It also has some yummy looking recipes that I cannot wait to try out!

Today's breakfast was Spinach Nest Eggs* with a slice of  honey oatmeal toast, a bit of butter, and some homemade cranberry compote I made last week.  Delicious!  It used up some leftover from supper last night, which always excites me because I hate, hate, hate throwing away perfectly good food.

Lunch was Veggie Soup and some mixed berry sorbet* for dessert.  Soup is so comforting on a cold winter day.  I made it from scratch a few weeks ago and was smart enough to stash some in the freezer. 

One way to keep a nice supply of veggie soup is to save every scrape of veggie leftovers in a container.  Once a week, cook up some broth, throw in the veggies, (supplement with more if needed), add some herbs and spices and tada! Soup!  I tend to throw in some meat as well and use the same flavor of broth to compliment the meat.  Throw in leftover rice, pasta, potatoes or grains too.  You'll be amazed at the wonderful combinations you come up with. Healthy, nutritious and it saves you money too!

I got hungry this afternoon so I had a snack.  Once slice honey oatmeal bread cut in half,  mayo, sliced onions and a bit of chicken.  It was good and definitely satisfied my hunger. I think I didn't get enough protein at lunch.  Will have to pay attention to that.  Oh, and I did sneak a few toasted pecans when I was making the Waldorf salad.  And yes, I made the mayo myself but used olive oil instead of vegetable oil.  So easy to do and tastes great. 

Dinner tonight was "Beefy" Pasta., basically, homemade Hamburger Helper.  I used ground turkey seasoned with beef base, whole wheat noodles, mushrooms, beef stock gravy and seasoning.  Turned out great.  Served it with steamed broccoli and Waldorf salad.  And no, I didn't eat all that pasta.  I ended up eating about half.  I put the other half in a container to eat tomorrow.

Today's Rainbow Count:
Red: Tomatoes, strawberries; raspberries, apple
Orange: Carrots
Yellow:  Corn
Green: Spinach, celery, peas, green beans, broccoli.
Blue:  Blackberries
White: Garlic, potatoes, onions

*See other posts for recipes.