3 Out of 4 Smoochys are on the Road to Recovery

Of course, now Smoochy is getting the cold! It's chicken noodle soup on the menu tonight! 

I wasn't kidding about making some big dietary changes around here. I picked up a copy of You: The Owner's Manual  while shopping at Sam's Saturday to tide me over until Amazon delivers the other nutrition books I ordered. Wow. What a useful guide to the body and how it works. The first chapter is about the heart; how it works; and keeping it healthy. 

Holy shit. I had no idea how EVIL trans fat really is. Sure I knew it was bad for you. But so what, lots of foods are bad for you. Ice cream is bad for you... but it won't kill you. Trans fats however will. Every time you bite into something with partially hydrogenated oil (and there is an unbelievable amount of food made with this stuff) you are taking years of your life. I  found this amazing site while looking into it. Check it out: Ban Trans Fat. Please. Mom, Dad, M.O.O., Gramps, and Grams W. That means you guys. Trans Fats are so bad for you that the FDA says there is no safe amount of daily consumption. You should avoid it whenever possible. But, that sounds easier that it is. Check out the the ingredients of your salad dressing, your baked goods, margarine, your fat free half and half, peanut butter; the list is endless.  Seriously, please inform yourself and protect your heart health.

Ok, that's my soap box for today. 

Here are some of the changes I'm implementing to make my family more healthy:

1) Making my own beans (red, black, navy, black eyed peas...) in the crock pot and freezing portions for latter. This is instead of the massive amounts of canned beans we use. All at once I'll save money and get rid of some of the Bisphenol-A in our diet. (That's a whole other soap-box)

2) Make a pitcher of flavored water everyday to encourage hydration. I'll use cucumber, lemon, fresh mint, strawberries, and other goodies to keep it exciting! 

3) Grind my own grain for flour and bake my own bread. This is going to be a huge undertaking, but I'm up for it because I can't seem to find a loaf of whole wheat bread we like that doesn't have either high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oil in it (Or both!) Why am I grinding my own grain instead of just buying whole wheat flour? Well, the nutrients in flour erode soon after it's been ground. SO to get the best nutritional bang for your buck, grinding is the way to go. I just bought my KitchenAid grain mill attachment this weekend! 

4) Make whole wheat waffles once a week and freeze the batch to give Normy instead of his Eggo every morning. 

5) Give Normy REAL fruit every day at lunch instead of the fruit cups (mixed fruit in light syrup).

6) Drink more green tea and a glass of red wine every night for the tannins and heart health. FUN!

7) Cook with less butter and more olive oil. (I bet no one will notice!) 

8) Throw out my Crisco (partially hydrogenated oil!)

9) Substitute REAL meat for lunch meat. 

10) I'm still not putting white sugar in my coffee (or anything else!) And I've gone from the yummy but evil flavored coffee mates to real half & half. 

Pretty much I want to cut out all processed food. Stay tuned... I'll let you know how all this works out...

"After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps." -Miss Piggy