So you have decided to start a healthy eating journey, aka weight loss without diet, doctor told me I need to do something about it, or I'm just ready to do something about being stronger/healthier. Well, there is hope. I can definitely help out in this fields. I am not going to lie, I also have unhealthy stuff in my refrigerator, however much less than what I used to and my grocery bill is DRAMATICALLY cheaper!! I am hoping to continue this blog on at least a weekly or monthly basis. *giggle* I mean yes, that is my plan. If you would like for me to blog about any specific things, please let me know. I decided at the beginning of this year, I would go along with the church I attend and fast. I decided on the Daniel Fast. Oh boy, was I in for a BIG surprise. I discovered there are many things you canNOT have and you can have. So instead of doing the full Daniel Fast, I decided to cut out all meats. I had a lot of success with that. I tried to do without animal products in my foods and that worked KIND OF. However, I discovered I liked not eating as much meat. I would be called a flexitarian now. In other words, I don't have to have animal products of any kind daily, I'm very flexible. I try to find different ways to complement my foods and sometimes I just don't eat enough. As Dave Ramsey says, there's nothing wrong with being weird. You can be flexible in anything you want in life, including your diet, finances, job, etc. It's YOUR life not someone else's.
So this is what I have done this year:
- Educated myself on foods, ingredients, recipes via the internet, talking to people, documentaries, television, and recipe books (I have a TON of them) and learned what I like and don't like.
- Introduced myself to a new food, fruit, vegetable, grain, meat, cut of meat, bean, cheese, egg, grain milks, dairy, etc and tried it to see if I liked it or even what to do with it.
- I have discovered my passion is cooking and educating others in how to live their lifestyle fully from a healthy perspective and reading labels.
- Read labels that I was too scared to look at to discover how much fat, cholesterol, sodium, calories, etc are in the junk they put out there.
- Discovered GMOs are in practically everything that is processed, including SUBWAY and other "healthy" and "unhealthy" restaurants.
- Discovered everything we put in our mouth is not necessarily good for us and sometimes not necessarily bad for us.
- Discovered new recipes that I actually like and introducing others to new recipes even though they cringed at first, they got over it and tried it and said it was delicious!
This is the first of many blogs that are to come. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for any new topics or something you want to ask but were too afraid to find out the answer. I will try my best to help you in anyway possible.
Thanks and God Bless
Jennifer Butz
startlifeallover@gmail.com