My journey to being healthy

So over the past few years I have become more aware of what I eat-I credit this to my extensive time watching the food network and my new found love for cooking. Recently I have been researching out food-and I have been surprised at what I've found. It all began when I decided that it was time to get in shape and lose some weight I had gained during my last stressful year of college (21 credits and 35 hrs working per week) and since getting my full time position where I sit most all day and am tempted to grab lunch at the local places. Even though I thought I was making healthy choices, I have found that even grabbing subway or a salad isn't the best if you are eating too much of it and depending what is on it! I first decided that I should not be drinking so much diet soda-I usually had 1 per day, but often had more on the weekends and when I was out to eat. 

I began doing research and found that diet soda is much worse than regular soda (neither are good of course) and that it even caused most people to gain more weight when they drank it more(I read one research study that said that people were 20 % more likely to be obese for each diet soda they drank per day (20% for 1 40% for 2, etc!). This research led me to reading about the effects and our overcompensation of white sugar, which lead to the high amount of msg, food dyes, and horrible food additives that are in most all processed foods. I have found this journey(I say journey because it feels like I've been researching thins forever when it's only been a month or two-but I've read a lot!) to be overwhelming at times but have to keep reminding myself of the word of wisdom (all things in moderation) and also that I need to take baby steps. 

So far my baby steps have included eliminating diet soda (I occasionally <1 time per week will have a regular soda and am trying to cut it out completely), trying to buy only real foods (non-processed), and cutting down our eating out even more. My favorite blogs in my journey to being healthy are The Food Babe, 100 Days of Real Food, and Thank Your Body. I like the variety of ideas that these three give me and while I don't do everything they suggest, I definitely already see a difference in how I feel with my little switches. 

One big thing for me was that it was always hard for me to get up in the morning-I could sleep forever if I didn't force myself to get up, and I felt like I needed caffeine to get me through the day. Now if I have a soda or eat junk-I feel groggy and sleepy the next day like I used to always feel. When I eat healthy real food and no caffeine I have way more energy and feel much better! Wow this is long, but I just want to document this so I can remember these things I've learned.

 Healthy homemade food is so good-I don't crave fast food ever now!

My newest find-"candy" sun-dried organic figs with walnuts-a sweet treat that fills my cravings for sugar