Getting started...

I am started this blog to chronicle our family's transformation from junk food addicts who barely exercised into people who really care about what we eat, where it came from and how it was made. In addition to caring about our food, we exercise a lot and enjoy all of the benefits from it.

First, some background of us and where we are in our journey. I am a family daycare provider and have been for about 10 years now. Being home is wonderful and I love what I do each day. However, easy access to the kitchen cupboards for all of those years gave me a lot of extra pounds to deal with. I never really worried about it until I realized how out of shape and lazy I had become. My husband works third-shift and it seemed like it was impossible to find a routine that worked for him, eating or exercise. We'd try and fail time after time to get it right. We never realized that in "dieting" we were setting ourselves up for failure because those habits don't go away without a total lifestyle change.

Fast forward 2 years and here we are...we're doing it! Not all the way, and not all the time but we're healthier, and more active than we've ever been in our lives. The biggest change we made, and the one we continue to make, is in our diet. About a year ago, we decided to cut out high fructose corn syrup, then we cut out diet soda, than creamer (my personal monkey on my back!) and it has just snowballed from there! Our son who is 15 initially fought us at every change but now he even enjoys the foods we eat. As a treat we'll occasionally have some candy or I buy him a soda and we're reminded how crappy we feel afterward and we're thankful for the change we've made.

Now, it's not to say that this journey was easy or happened overnight. It didn't. It's been a gradual, life-altering plan but I am thankful for that because that's they way to make long lasting change. Slowly while you are understanding each change and giving your body time to adjust.

Highlights of our eating plan:
-Little red meat - usually once or twice a week. We instead eat seafood, fish and chicken frequently.

-I bake all of our bread, rolls, etc from scratch. Huge cost savings and what a difference for your body! I also have recently started milling my own flour after my hubby bought me a wondermill for Christmas! Whole grains are phenomenal!

-Lots of fruits and vegetables whether fresh or frozen.

Next on the list - snacks! As a daycare provider, providing healthy foods is really important to me because it is crucial to children's development to have good foods. So, today I made crackers. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be and they turned out very well. I'll post the recipe and picture next!

I'm sure some of you reading this are thinking we must spend a bundle on groceries and I'm happy to report that even with feeding my family as well as my daycare children, we spend not much more than $125 a week. Through my blog, I hope to share some of my helpful hints on cutting costs too! Stay tuned...