I feel kinda bad that I told you all I would be posting 2 new clean recipes per month and then didn’t really deliver! The thing is, once I started Somersizing, I pretty much stopped eating most processed foods, and now that I’ve jumped on the clean food bandwagon my diet has really changed.
Basically, my whole entire diet has changed a lot faster than I thought it would. Because of this, I thought I’d show you some of the ways that we’re eating differently these days.
Here’s a sampling of some of the things I’ve thrown out half full/not bought a replacement for:
- Regular (sugar- and oil-laden) peanut butter
- My beloved Aunt Jemima’s (sniff)
- Vegetable oil (someday soon I will do a whole post about healthy/non-healthy fats)
- White rice
- Smart Balance spread
- Regular (sugary) pasta sauce
- Cool Whip (be still my heart)
- Non-organic milk
- My delightful coffee creamers
- Regular baking powder (made with aluminum)
- Lite mayo
And what have these things been replaced with?
- All natural, no sugar, no nothing-but-peanuts peanut butter
- We eat waffles plain, buttered, with peanut butter, or with my homemade low-sugar jam now. We really don’t like real maple syrup, plus it’s crazy expensive.
- I use butter (rejoice! It’s actually good for you in small amounts), coconut oil, or olive oil
- Brown rice (I’ve also been cooking with bulgur and really enjoying it)
- Melted butter in the micro (ya know, old-school)
- Pre-made pasta sauce sweetened with carrot juice (I do make my own occasionally but sometimes the convenience triumphs)
- Real homemade whipped cream (it’s growing on me)
- Luke and I drink organic milks (whole for him, skim for me. Chris hates the taste of organic so he still drinks regular. So yes, there are 3 cartons of milk in our fridge at all times. You’re welcome, dairy farmers of America.)
- I drink coffee with cream, cinnamon, and a Splenda (see, I have a food flaw!!! Although I don’t drink coffee everyday.)
- Aluminum-free baking powder
- Full fat, full delicious regular mayo
This is just a glimpse into our food lives. We are a normal family on a tight budget, still working our way into total whole-food-living.
For the most part, Luke and I eat fairly “whole” everything (he eats animal crackers and puffs occasionally, for instance, and I definitely eat desserts and junk food every so often). Chris eats clean dinners (because I cook – ha!). I’m still working on him, but he’s a good guy and he’s come a long way. :)
With small changes at a time, I’m totally convinced that nearly every middle-class family (the poor are a different story at this point in America, unfortunately), can eat whole, clean foods.
I’m contemplating writing a post about how to get started with clean eating. Would that help anyone? If it would help you, will you please say so in the comments? Thanks! :)
This would totally help me. I want to do whats best for my child, and I know there are things that are just horrible wrong with the food that we as Americans eat on a daily basis. I have made small changes, mostly the ones that my husband can't tell the difference on :) I have a 13 month old son, and my perspective on food has just totally changed in the past year as I think about what I am putting into him.
ReplyDeleteOn a side not, I adore your morning cookie... it's kinda become my morning cookie too - it makes me feel so much better throughout the day than the stuff I was eating before.
And I love your blog - without going into details, we actually went to school together - I was a couple years behind you though - when I stumbled onto your blog (through the internet, without any connection through the past) I thought it was hilarious that our lives seemed so similar - between the ages of our sons and both living in PA now (although not for long stinker) and our walk in the faith and the thriftyness. I am so glad God connected me to your blog - it's been a refreshing welcome to me readings :) God Bless!
I love homemade whip cream! I actually like it better than cool whip, and so does JP!
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your clean eating! We only eat organic meat/fruits/vegetables and only drink organic milks (weird that your hubby says it tastes different - I don't notice at all, but then again I'm not a huge milk drinker) but some of the other products you point out I need to look into. The baking powder really piqued my interest - aluminum? Not that I do a lot of baking but there is a huge link to cancer w/ aluminum so I will definitely be checking that out. Our food bills are pretty normal because I buy a lot of the organic stuff in bulk @ Costco - they have come a LONG way in the amount of organics they carry!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, love these posts and following along! This mommy is determined to make sure her babies bodies are as clean as possible :) Too bad mine LOVE sugar!
Great post--I love the specific examples you share. I need to look into the baking powder/aluminum thing, I wasn't aware of it. As for the cool whip, I was awfully discouraged the day I actually read the ingredients in it. I love that stuff, but like you am only making my own now. :-) I'd love to hear how you started out.
ReplyDeletePLEASE PLEASE HELP ME! LOL Seriously though, I feel so at a loss as to how to do all this. I do eat *mostly* whole foods. But can't give up certain things like my coffee and my creamer. But any advice you can offer would be wonderful. I'd love to stop buying processed stuff for my kids too but it's hard cause so many kids snacks are processed items. I also want to find ways to remove so much sugar from our diets.
ReplyDeleteThanks for any thoughts and advice you can offer! =)
lol Kathy! I will write a post about it soon. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Jess! We've made some similar changes...cracks me up that Chris doesn't like the taste of organic. We have similar issues over milk around here:)
ReplyDeleteI would love to read that blog! It seems like a hard thing to do, but you make it seem so easy.
ReplyDeleteHey Jess! What is the brand of the pasta sauce sweetened with carrot juice?? Ethan doesn't eat any sugar (even organic cane) and I can't find a pasta sauce that fits the bill. I have a homemade recipe, but seriously, sometimes it's nice to open a jar...
ReplyDeleteAs for milk, we have two people and two kinds of milk, so I totally understand. Ethan drinks raw whole (I pick it up every other week from a farmer) and I drink organic skim (from the store).
Heather, I sent you an e-mail, too, but it's by Francesco Rinaldi and I think it's called "TO BE" (I didn't actually pay that much attention to the title!).
ReplyDeleteI found you on "New Friend Friday"...and had to tell you I loved reading your posts! I would definitely like to hear more about "clean eating"...I have heard bits and pieces here and there...but would love to hear it from someone who is at a similar stage of life! Keep up the good work! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat work. I think many people are starting to wake up to all the junk in our food. Hmmmmm, Or maybe I just notice it more....Gosh, hope it's the first one!!
ReplyDeleteThe organic milk is a great step in the right direction. I wonder if it is also non-homogenised? Or unpasteurised? Perhaps in your following posts you could touch on the health benefits of drinking non-homogenised milk (and butter, and cheese, and everything else, really!). Unpasteurised is even better - the way our grandparents drank it, straight from the cow.
Keep up the great work! I am also trying to do the same things - clean up our diet, while sticking to some semblence of a budget. I can see I'm going to have to grow more of my own, in order to achieve this.