A New Beginning

Today is the start of a new 2012 (one week late).  I have several goals for this year but would really like to focus this blog on healthy eating for myself and my family while maintaining a conservative budget.  I started a weight loss competiton at work today and here is my before picture:

I weighed in at 150.3.  This is not a very proud moment for me because I have gained 18 pounds in the last year, 7 of which I put on in the last month.  It started with allowing myself a few treats in the breakroom and led to eating endless amounts of sugar, double portions meals, and overconsumption of alcohol.  I intend to get rid of the CRAP in my diet.  Caffeine, Refined sugar, Alcohol and Processed foods.

I have always tried very hard to get my kids to eat healthy, balanced meals.   But I am also a very busy mom and find myself cooking noodles and tossing them on a plate with some butter.  It really hit me when I was busy making dinner for my extended family that was staying with me for a few days, and realized that my 2 year old had only ate 1 piece of white french bread and 4 glasses of milk.  I have gotten rid of all the processed "snacky" type foods that the kids think they need everyday.  They fill up on them and then don't eat dinner, only to be starving a short while later.  Both of my children also suffer from very sensitive skin.  Neither one has been diagnosed with eczema but I think that's what it is.  I will be researching possible food allergies to see if we can find a natural healing approach to their skin condition instead of a steroid cream.

We all know it's hard to stick to a budget and I think a lot of people have the misconception that eating healthy is very expensive.  This past weekend I went shopping for the week at two different stores and successfully purchased enough food for the week at my budget.  I only shopped the outside aisles of the store (produce, meat and frozen) and did not purchase any boxed food.  The only canned item was a can of diced tomatoes.  I will be posting about my Sunday food prep and will share a recipe or two later in the week.

Thanks for reading!