A goal

I'm not going to call this a New Year's resolution because I have been thinking about it for some time now, but I have a goal that I am going to start focusing on more. It's hard to sum up exactly, but I suppose it can all rolled into: planning what we are going to eat so that we can be more healthy. I am the person who spearheads the cooking in our house and if we are going to eat better, it needs to be up to me.

My first step to this plan is to write out a monthly menu. Some people do weekly, but I think that monthly makes more sense for me. This way I can try new recipes, have some fall-back standards, and always know what I need to pick up in the grocery store. At the beginning of the month, I wrote a menu for everyday that included dinner for the night and left-overs for lunch the next day. I also made sure to write out vegetables/salad for each meal. If I have it written down, I don't have to think about it when 4:00 rolls around. I can just make what I had planned. So far I have only had to tweak a few times.



My second step is to eliminate all overly-processed, white, enriched foods. I have been doing this for awhile actually. That means we only have whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole grain pasta, non-sugary cereals etc. I think we are to the point that we are used to tasting all of these foods. The pasta takes a minute getting used to, but it's much more filling.

My third step is to eliminate foods that are high in salt and reduce my use of salt in cooking. I'm not going to get into it, but if you are unsure about how too much salt can affect us, I encourage you to research it. I have been using lots of "Mrs. Dash" seasonings that are salt-free. I baked some chicken awhile ago with just this on it, and Dusty couldn't tell that there was no salt in it.



My last step is to try to avoid any kind of trans fat. If you are reading a label, if it says that it has any kind of "partially hydrogenated oil" in it, you can bet it has trans fat, even if they claim it doesn't. I learned all about how these bad boys change in your body and the harm they can do in organic chemistry, and from reading.

Basically, all of this means that I have to cook most things from scratch, which doesn't bother me, because I enjoy cooking. But it does mean that I spend a good chunk of my day in the kitchen and having my meal planned in advance helps make it easier for me. I think I am going to start posting recipes that fall into these categories that we enjoyed. I also want to start eating more salmon, nuts, avocados, and keep using good olive oil. I'm hoping this journey helps me become a better cook and helps us to become more healthy.




Some fantastic resources that help me in this are:

My Mom, who has been cooking this way for years and is an expert in what is good and bad for you.

This magazine



Also this magazine


And this website, which has recipes galore and loads of reviews complete with tips and hints.