You Are What You Eat?

I've been feeling guilty about what I'm eating (and what I'm feeding my family) for some time now. If I'm not at a restaurant (and probably half the time when I am at a restaurant, too), nearly everything I eat comes from a box... it's processed, preserved, and easy to make - almost too easy to make. It can't be healthy. My expanding waistline is proof of that... as is feeling depressed, sluggish, and just plain lazy. But... I'm terrified of cooking... No, really... I don't cook. Taking something out of the freezer and popping it into the oven is my idea of cooking. This is the factor that's been holding me back for, oh, I don't know... about three years now? Probably longer? But, I think I'm ready to make a change. Why? Because I'm turning into what I'm eating - lazy and unhealthy.

Let's back up for a minute. How did I get to this point?

I was raised by a very busy single mom. She did her absolute best to get dinner on the table for me every night, and I did enjoy some great home-cooked meals growing up (especially when we went to visit my grandmother!), but a lot of times, Kraft Dinner, Zoodles, and Swanson frozen dinners were the staples of my diet. It didn't help that I was an extremely picky eater when I was young (and still am, although not nearly as bad as I was back then) and that I loved to eat out. In fact, eating out became a real bonding time for my mother and I. When we didn't know what to eat for supper, one of us would be quick to suggest that we go out, and if we couldn't... Well, back to the frozen dinners! When we did cook, my experience helping out in the kitchen was limited to peeling vegetables and washing dishes. Sure, I could scramble an egg, boil noodles for pasta, brown some ground beef, and do a couple of other very basic things, but for the most part, cooking was a totally foreign idea to me.

These habits have definitely carried forward into my adult life. When I met the man who is now my husband, we ate out a lot... and when we didn't, since I couldn't cook, we made very easy (read: frozen) meals. Since getting married, we've continued along this path, but now we're running into some hiccups. For one, eating out all the time is way too expensive. As well, we're both gaining weight and are feeling more and more lethargic and just plain unhealthy! I don't know if our metabolism is slowing down or we're losing our youthful zeal or what, but our bodies are definitely responding to the poor nutrition. Besides, there's only so many frozen pizzas that a person can be reasonably expected to eat. We've been saying for years that we need to change, but this time, I think we're actually going to do it.

What makes this time different?

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. I know that my health is important. I know that eating well and being healthy in general will make all other aspects of my life easier. But I've known these things for a long time... I guess this time I've just gotten up off my lazy behind and have actually started to look into the issues, read the labels on the food I'm buying, and think about the choices I'm making. What I've found has been alarming... alarming enough to make me want to change. Did you know that they add SUGAR to sliced lunch meats!? Anyways... I'm going to change. I am going to change. I'm actually excited about this!

This change is going to be so significant to my life that I thought I better document it. I debated between writing in a traditional journal and starting a blog, and I decided to start the blog because I know that there are other people out there in my shoes. People who want to live a more healthy lifestyle, but who aren't in love with cooking and feel too overwhelmed by all of the conflicting information out there about what to eat that's healthy, what type of exercise is best, etc. etc. etc. Maybe my journey can help someone else.

So, here we go! At this point, I've barely touched the surface of my research, but this week I'm working on making homemade meals, getting to the gym a couple of times, and packing my lunch every day without using a frozen dinner. I'll keep you posted on how this goes, and I'll give some thoughts on why I've chosen to go organic over any of the other diet/exercise plans that are out there. Hope to see you back here soon!