Where Do I Start?

I know from personal experience that the hardest part of "going healthy" is finding food everyone will eat, and then actually preparing it.Here are some suggestions:

1. Meal planning. Shopping will be much easier if you have a list. Deciding what to make for dinner will be much easier if you already have the ingredients. I plan meals a week at a time. These two things will save you time and money.

2. Preparation. Wash, and cut your produce and place it in clear plastic containers in the fridge. If it's convenient it will be more likely to be eaten. Having ripe bananas peeled and frozen makes breakfast smoothies a breeze. Make meals the night before and put into the fridge or crock pot for the following day.

3. Purge your kitchen. You will eat what you have available. If you get rid of packaged cookies, snack cakes, potato chips and other "junk", you won't eat it!

4. Let your kids help. Your kids will be much happier with the healthy changes if you give them some say in what they eat. Let them make their own breakfast smoothies. At the grocery store, let them pick out new fruits and vegetables to try. Let them help make meals, peel vegetables, measure ingredients. Let them pick out their favorite "healthy" meal, and let them prepare it (even my 5 year old cooks!)

5. Educate. Research for yourself what really is healthy. When you read a study on how pork is "healthy", read on and find out WHO funded that study (the Pork industry). Read the mountains and mountains of research linking how the foods we put in our bodies affects our future quality of life. Research the connection between eating processed foods (chemical laden, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, GMO) and cancer, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Educate your kids. Tell them whats wrong with the unhealthy food. Tell them of the benefits of eating LIVE food. Explain why fruit smoothies are healthier than sugary breakfast cereal and cow milk.

6. Pack a lunch. You will be less likely to "have to" stop for fast food if you pack a lunch. Make it yummy! When going on long car trips, pack a cooler filled with healthy sandwiches, bottled water, and healthy snacks.

7. Don't deprive yourself. I need treats. Kids need treats. Make your own! Make healthier versions of your favorite cookies, cakes, pies and pizza's. Substitute whole wheat flour for the bleached white flour (I do half and half mostly, using wheat only tends to make things heavy and tough). Substitute cane juice crystals, sucanat or even honey for white sugar. And so on!
Make your own "everyday" bread. I bought my second bread machine from a friend (who never used it) for $20. Put all of your organic ingredients in the pan, pop it into the bread machine, and 3 hours later..fresh, organic bread for much less than store bought. I figured out that it costs me about $.42 a loaf to make organic ww bread.

"It is easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet." -Margaret Mead