Real food living. A challenge, a lifestyle change, a new us?

I know it's been a long time.  It has been.  Almost two years.  It's not quite same old, same old and then at the same time it is.  Same kids, same husband, different job for me, everyone is older, everyone is okay.  Still in surgery mode, but mostly lately, we are in "put off surgery"mode due to colds, flu's, a quick bout of RSV.  Needless to say, I will most likely at some point bore you with the details of the last two years, but for today let's put that all aside and get to what I am excited about (scared of, intimidated by) and hopefully can accomplish.  I think it's going to be a long journey.

I want to begin the process of eating whole/real foods.  Not to an OCD, crazy degree.  I am trying to be realistic about what our life is- how busy, how much time we spend in a hospital, how tired we are.  But at least an 80-20% of the time kind of thing. A breakfast, snack time, dinner, weekend kind of thing for the kids and for Nick and I, most meals of the week, if not all.  And there are varying degrees of whole food living inside of that.  Do I make my own ketchup and bread or do I search out convenience brands that have 5 or less ingredients, all with names I recognize (i.e. tomatoes, evaporated cane juice, salt).  I am not sure yet, what the answer is, but I have tossed the idea around recently and after a friend of ours sent me some information recently about whole/real food living and illnesses and weight loss, I couldn't think of a reason not to try other than- it's going to be harder.  I am not sure that's a good enough reason to not try. At least, I have rarely let that get in my way before so why should I now. 

My kids are always sick.  I call them germ magnets.  They do not walk by a cold they do not catch (or a flu, a strep throat, a virus). We are a hand washing, hand sanitizing family.  We understand how not to catch a cold.  I just think no one else does.  And my kids go to school.  And my husband works in one.  And' we. catch. every. thing.  Period.  So what if some diet changes help?   What if more antioxidants and vitamins and chemical free food helps?  What if we get sick less?   Conversely, what if we don't?   What does it hurt?   My kids may grow to like Greek yogurt with fruit and homemade granola.  They may learn to like fruit and peanut butter as a snack, carrots and homemade dressing, hummus and pita.  We may all lose a few pounds. I am down 53 since the summer.  But I notice lately I am reaching for oreos more.  It's cold and boring and we are stuck in the house.  Let's eat. 

Now after speaking to this friend who has been sending me some info here and there (Maria from wholehogliving.com), she explained that I do not have to empty the pantry right this minute, as was my fear. 

The idea of throwing this all out and starting over hurt my head and my wallet:

Baby steps.  When the offensive food is gone (the bbq sauce with the high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient) just do not replace it. Either make your own or find a whole/real food replacement.  That seems less daunting doesn't it.  So today we began.  I did the family a favor and ate the last Oreo (although no one looked like they wanted to thank me) and I have meal planned for the week.   It will be a gradual change over the next couple weeks until the pantry is cleaned out and I plan to use a lot of the advice for kids foods from the website  100daysofrealfood.com.  They have tons of kid snack ideas (some of those ideas I already have in that pantry) and I am going to print them out and paste them to the fridge so when my children are complaining that there is nothing to eat, the list will be right there for their convenience (and for mine).  

The saddest change and maybe the hardest for me: 

This is my crack.  I like loads of it in my coffee, until my coffee resembles a coffee milkshake.  But the ingredients list looks like this:

And I don't know what those words mean.  So no more delicious hazelnutty creamer in my coffee and instead real, local dairy (a trip to Stew Leonard's you say???) and either healthy sweetener or none, as aspartame is off the list. 

I found the 20 Steps to a Real Food Diet tips on richlyrooted.com to be quite useful when looking for tips on how to do this.  This woman made me feel like I could do this.  I can do most of this list of 20 steps to take towards whole food living.  I cannot make my own yogurt.  But I can do most of the rest.   And I feel encouraged. 

I also think these changes will be good for Gavin. Gavin has sugar issues.  He cannot control his behavior well after consuming sugar.  I can see the sugar pulsing through his veins.  Perhaps he might benefit from less processed, less sugar filled foods and a more natural, less excitable diet. 

Okay, I am at the point of rambling.  More to come as I cook, bake and take away the kids snacks and copious amounts of ketchup.  Lol.  It's bound to be exciting.