I started reading. I'm a avid researcher when I'm interested in a topic and so a trip to the library was a coming! At first I was just looking for basic low cal foods and ways to hopefully make them taste good. We ate lots of expensive dishes during this bit of time. I picked up veggies and recipe ingredients based on what recipes sounded good to me. Not giving a thought to whether that vegetable or ingredient was at it's best price or even flavor at the time. I did lose a few more pounds during this time period-which thankfully did not last very long. We would have been in the poor house for sure.
I remembered that I have a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" so I started reading through it again. I love that book of hers, not many of her others have appealed to me but this is a favorite. I went to the library and picked up Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma". When I read this book previously I had enjoyed it but when I picked it up this time something clicked in my sugar craving little mind. Maybe this makes sense? Possibly? Hopefully? I started reading ALOT on eating non processed foods. Some of it scared the crud-ola out of me. I had no clue what I had been poking down my throat and the throats of my kiddos all these years.
When you really start learning about your food, where it comes from and what it is made from is a learning experience. Corn and soy products go into just about everything we eat. I read that when Coke first started using high fructose corn syrup in its beverages that it's cost went down. Did they lower prices? No, they went to unlimited refills at restaurants and bigger sizes on the bottles. High fructose corn syrup makes your body crave more sugars. So when I and we filled up on those big gulps it didn't satisfy the body. It just makes you want more. I know people and I'm sure you do also that drink several sodas a day. I was a diet coke nut. I would have however many a day that I wanted. Never gave a thought to it. I mean there was no calories. I was not going to gain more weight from them. Diet coke and sugar free sodas make you crave sugars even more. More on this later.
Learning more about my foods and where they came from has taught me to grow all of my food that I can. We do not have a huge area to grow so we go to local farmer's markets, produce stands, and small area farms in the area. Getting to know the actual people that grow the food we eat and that I feed my family has been a wonderful experience. Simple foods that I never would have imagined could have taste explosions in your mouth have become our mainstays. Eating food that is in season is when it is at it's very best. Prices are better and quality is unbelievable. Imagine that summer tomato that you pick fresh from your yard dripping with tart sweetness that runs down your chin-now think about that tomato you picked up in January from the grocery store..tasty huh?
So far I'm at a size 10/12 down from a tight size 22 jean size. I'm not at my goal weight yet but this is a journey. I am sharing how I did it. Cooking this way is more work. At first I was putting in quite a bit of time doing it. You do get better as you learn though. It takes me no time to throw together dinner or fresh homemade bread. The taste of simple ingredients are amazing. We don't eat out at restaurants and if we do we are very picky eaters. It's just easier and more pleasurable to wait until we get home or are able to choose more wisely. Miss eating for a few hours? Not many people I know are going to be affected by missing a meal.
OK so here is where I'll begin sharing what I've learned and some recipes and tidbits as we go. If I get to preachy..someone just reign me in.
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