“I’m going to eat clean for an entire week.” That is what I told a
good friend of mine a couple weeks ago and I was determined to do so. Wanting
to live both a healthier and simpler life is part of the drive of this above
statement. Also, while my husband was working late one night I stumbled upon a
documentary on Netflix titled, “Hungry for Change.” I didn’t instantly believe
every word and idea that came from the television, but it did get me thinking.
It talked about how addicting sugar is and the way the food companies
manipulate the chemicals in the food. Something else that seemed to be true is
that we, as humans, at one point in time had a hard time finding fatty foods and
it is something that we naturally crave. Fat is something that helped up stay
alive when it was rare. Now, we still have those same cravings, but we seem to
not be able to get away from it. If I have a choice to have a piece of fish
with some steamed vegetables or a yummy steak with a baked potato accompanied with
butter, sour cream and other toppings, the latter sounds much more appealing to
me. At least for me, I have a constant struggle with choosing the healthy foods
over the yummy fatty ones. Anyway, back to eating clean….
The following morning after my declaration to my friend I fixed a
couple eggs with some onions, mushrooms, and a little salsa mixed in. I checked
the salsa ingredients, and I didn’t like what I saw: words I couldn’t pronounce
and had no idea what they meant. I also had some Greek yogurt and instead of
mixing in the vanilla yogurt (after looking at the ingredients for the first
time) I sweetened it with a little vanilla and honey. And guess what: I liked
it! I checked the milk in the fridge and saw that there were no chemicals or
hormones before pouring a small glass. I’d say that was a pretty successful
breakfast. Maybe I CAN do this! I had a plan to go to the grocery later that day
and buy only natural foods to fill my pantry and refrigerator and to rid my
house of processed food. I then realized that money was low and the food was expensive
and my thoughts of changing everything instantly were little…ambitious.
Instead of changing all at once, I have
now decided that going forward, I will make better decisions when buying
groceries. Just a couple days ago I went to the store for my weekly shopping
and paid very close attention to the food I was putting in my basket that would
soon be going into my body. There were several things I picked up, turned it on
its back to read what was in it, and placed it right back on the shelf where it
belonged. Certain things I once thought were healthy surprised me very much. I
guess when the sugar and fat are left out of foods, they have to add man made
flavors to make it taste good.
I bought dry black beans this time
instead of canned. It was actually kind of fun soaking them for several hours
and cooking them, knowing that they were in their simplest form. I also bought
natural salsa and was able to read and understand every ingredient on the label.
(I hope to make my own this summer from my garden veggies). I was planning on
making a dish called “Salsa chicken” which includes using some taco seasoning.
I read the ingredients on that small packet of “seasoning” and was stunned by
what was in it. That evening I made my own seasoning from a simple recipe I found
online. It took me less than a couple minutes and I already had everything in
my spice cabinet. Why had I been buying those little packets of “spices” all these
years? I guess because I never knew better and believed what was on the front
of boxes rather than looking on the back.
I don’t plan on changing everything in my
house to simple foods from the crazy stuff
that’s in there this instant (I think my husband would have a meltdown) , but I
do hope to slowly adjust the food that’s going in my kitchen and eventually, in
me and my husband.
simplest superlative of sim·ple (Adjective)
Adjective
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