So I ran across this blog on Pinterest. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ I liked her ideas and decided to try a little of what she was doing. She decided to eat only real food for 100 days. Me, I am just trying to cut out a lot processed stuff and use a lot less sugar. So "real" or "whole" food is nothing processed, no white flour, no sugar, no preservatives, etc. Now I don't use a whole lot of packaged, processed stuff in my cooking so that isn't the hard part. The hard part for me was bread and sweets. She started making her own bread in a bread machine using King Arthur's White Whole Wheat flour. I thought, I can do that, I make bread all the time. Well, two loaves of bread in the garbage later, I decided to buy organic wheat bread with no preservatives/chemicals etc. Because really when you look at the ingredients of a loaf of bread...why is there 40 ingredients? So the organic bread is what I am doing. So the other hang up of mine was sugar. I love to bake. But in an effort to used less sugar I tried her recipes for Whole Wheat Brownies and Homemade Maple Pecan Ice Cream. (Just click on the recipe names and it will take you to her blog and the recipe) No sugar used! The only sweeteners are honey and maple syrup. So I can feel good about giving Lane (and myself) a bowl of ice cream with a brownie! The ice cream is really yummy and creamy! Also I do have an ice cream maker, I LOVE IT! The brownies definitely have a different texture, but I really love them. The recipe says you can use maple syrup or honey, I have done both and I like the honey better.
A few other changes I have made are:
-not buying crackers, cookies, etc unless they are minimally processed and no preservatives. Somethings I found that work are Triscuits and Kettle Brand potato chips (they may not be great for you, but they are made with natural ingredients).
-sweetening my coffee with maple syrup and half and half. I also have bought the Natural Bliss coffee creamer. It does have sugar in it but it doesn't have all the other junk the regular stuff has, I think it has only 3 or 4 ingredients.
-Stretch's Fruit Leather are a good choice instead of fruit snacks or fruit roll ups.
-Changing my white rice habit into brown rice which I am learning to love and Lane and Estelle already love it so that's a plus.
-Instead of packing Lane's lunch full of crackers and stuff, I have been putting in pickles, string cheese or baby bel cheese, fruit leather, and homemade muffins or breakfast cookies made with all whole grain. He also eats a cold grilled cheese sandwich everyday in his lunch (silly guy).
I am not an extreme person, but I thought making a few changes would be a good thing and I am hoping I have more energy as a result?? Now if I can get this Valentine's candy out of my house that would be helpful!
