So over the last couple months, I have been making small changes with food. Reading a lot about dairy, since Maria seems to have developed a lactose intolerance.  A presentation at work talked a lot about cutting out processed foods and trending health concerns with kids.  And I had my yearly cholesterol screening for my insurance benefits – again my LDLs are high and my HDLs are low…

So I’ve been reading ingredients.  I’ve long been a label reader but mostly for calories/fat/fiber/carbs/protein…. ingredients are different.   Although easy to read.  If I don’t know what it is, I probably don’t want it.

The only challenge then is… what to replace it with?

So yes, this brings me to less one-dish meals.  More meat with sides. Fortunately it is grilling season, so this isn’t so bad for now.

• We have also switched to organic milk, because I bought it at Costco once on a whim when I first started paying attention to labels.  AND verdict! it tastes soooo good! Fresher.  Maybe it’s the farm girl in me, but yum.
• Also soy milk in my lattes and on my cereal. I finally found one I LOVE.
• Discovered some yummy hotdogs and sandwich meat without nitrates.
• Trying to make my own bread when I can (bread machine makes it not so hard).
• Organic cream cheese and sour cream (because there are less ingredients and I know what they are)
• Plus I’ve added in avocados to more of our meals to get the healthy fat.
• Lots of flavors of juice with Simply.
• Oh, and I now eat kale!

Mostly we’ve been going through a lots of fruits and vegetables. The kids haven’t noticed yet. Maybe they have noticed when I want to keep it simple it’s Peanut Butter (ingredients: peanuts & salt) and Jelly (no added sugar) sandwiches.

I will say that this is a more expensive diet. But so far I feel great.  Maybe it’s just the placebo effect? I don’t really care. Feeling great is good!

P.S.  Both Chad and I gave up our daily diet sodas!