Eighty/Twenty

I have recently been very conscience of trying to eat healthier. I decided to continue my “small steps” way of making changes. I like to think that I have tried to eat fairly healthy. But I knew I was eating too many sweets and drinking too many sodas.  It is not easy for me to change the way I eat.

I have read many diet/health books, but with this new way of eating I began reading new ones.  I have read books that have helped to strengthen my resolve to eat better. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan was an excellent read. I liked his philosophy of: Eat food, Not too much, mostly plants. Along with In Defense of Food, I also read Food Rules and Cooked.  Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner  was interesting and made me think twice about buying and eating many different packaged food, especially cereal. . One diet book that I did not particularly care for was The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin.

So my small change for eating healthier boils down to: eating whole, non-processed foods without being too fanatical about it. So I tell my kids we are going to eat about 80% of our food fresh, non-processed and 20% can be other stuff.  I promised my kids, and  husband, that I would not turn them into vegetarians, we would eat meat, just not as much. I do laugh though at how many meatless meals I already make and they just eat and never complain.

This small change is going well. I like that we are eating food, real food. It sometimes takes just a little more planning ahead than I am used to, but I am figuring it all out without too much hassle.