The Pressure is ON!

The month is over, payroll has been deposited, the cupboards are getting bare.... It's time to go grocery shopping, and I still don't know what I'm doing! :-) This transition to a healthier diet isn't going to be easy, is it! Thankfully, I'm in good company. Many of you who have "gone before" me have offered help and encouragement as I learn the ropes of a whole foods diet, and I'm betting I'm going to need it!

As I've been reading through Nourishing Traditions, I've realized a couple things: that modern conveniences have taken us a LONG ways from the culinary skills and habits of our ancestors; that pretty much every thing we eat--even that of the "healthy" variety--is JUNK; and that never before have I been concerned with what ingredients are in the foods I buy (Why would I be? I didn't know what all that stuff is, anyway.). As a little girl I used to say, "Technology will be the downfall of us (i.e. humans)." I'm pretty sure I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about at the time (Ha!), but perhaps I was on to something. It seems that the conveniences modern technology has offered us--including convenience foods and convenient food preparation--have certainly come at a price.

Something else I'm fairly certain of is that I'll need to take this transition to healthier eating one purposeful step at a time. To help myself be less overwhelmed, I've been trying to develop some objectives for this first month. Here's what I've come up with so far.... (You experts, please feel free to weigh in on this!)

• Go ahead and use up foods that I have on hand, unhealthy as they may be; and as they run out, don't replace the things that shouldn't be a part of our diet. For example, I finished the last of my ice cream yesterday and don't plan on buying anymore (Did I just say that?!); our high fructose corn syrup-full ketchup is running low and will be replaced either by some from the health food store or by some homemade(!) ketchup; etc.
• Replace sugar with natural sweeteners such as raw honey and pure maple syrup. (I bought a 1 quart jug of 100% pure maple syrup last night, and it cost $12.99. Yikes!)
• Attempt to make my own butter, ketchup (if cost effective--Amariah likes her ketchup!), and breads.
• Continue to learn!

For right now, I think that instead of learning new recipes I'm going to try to make appropriate adjustments/substitutions to the recipes I am familiar with. (Has anybody taken this route? Does it work?) My thinking is that as we gradually cut more and more refined/processed foods from our diet and as I become more familiar with various whole foods ingredients, it will become more feasible at that point to start trying new recipes.

It was only recently that I learned of the addicting nature of sugar--and even more recently of its destructive nature. Part of me wants to say that ignorance was bliss, mostly because the knowing has presented me with a lot of work! :-) But seriously, I've come to a point where I am actually excited about admitting my addiction to sugar and doing something about it. I'm excited about doing a better job of nourishing not only my own body and my husband's but also the four little bodies that God has entrusted to our care.

So... back to that grocery list.... Let's see how well I can work under pressure! :-)