Health & Fitness
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email [email protected]
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Help? Tired of the processed JUNK.
So...I'm tired of eating junk. Piper is getting bigger and just
starting a few solids and I'm very particular about the food she gets.
While I sit there drinking a Pepsi and eating Act II popcorn. 
Such a double standard and not the health message I want to send my
daughter, kwim? I want to quit eating so much processed crap. It
literally makes me ill and upsets my stomach and yet I continue the
vicious cycle.
My problem is...I don't even know where on Earth to start. I cook almost all of our meals so we're not eating a diet consisting only of frozen entrees or fast food, but it's still not sound, healthy, well rounded meals. Lots of "cream of.." soups, velveeta cheese, Kraft cheese for the grilled cheese sandwiches, store-purchased white bread, frozen pizza, pop tarts, Kraft mac 'n cheese, Doritos, Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops...you get the picture.
I have a tiny kitchen and not much room for *stuff* and big appliances. I know it's not going to be an overnight transition and it's going to take me a while to weed out all of this junk entirely. I just feel so overwhelmed even trying to figure out where on Earth to start!
I want to feed my daughter healthy meals and I don't want to continue this vicious cycle of crap food. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably never say no to Pepsi and Kraft Mac forever, but I don't want to be eating it on a weekly basis...you know? Also, we could never go vegetarian so that's not an option for us at all. And we don't eat fish/seafood.
Help me! Here are a few things we eat on a regular basis to give you an idea of the things we like: stroganoff (onion soup mix and cream of soup+ sour cream), spaghetti, hamburgers, gulash, salads, chicken strips, BLTs, crock pot rotisserie chicken, taco soup, enchiladas (store bought sauce..), baked ziti, tacos, pork loin, roast (cream of soups..).
See? I need help! Lots of it!
Here's the list of fruits/veggies we like: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, lettuce, corn, carrots, celery, apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, and kiwi (I'm sure there's more, hard to think of them all). I only like FRESH veggies, never cooked. I'll tolerate *very small* amounts of onions in food, but I don't care for it very much. I'll admit I don't really even know if I like things like zucchini, eggplant, etc. because I've never tried them and I'm nervous to do so, haha! I'm kind of a picky eater.
So....now what? I don't like to spend hours in the kitchen every day cooking so the easier the better. Point me in the right direction!!
Such a double standard and not the health message I want to send my
daughter, kwim? I want to quit eating so much processed crap. It
literally makes me ill and upsets my stomach and yet I continue the
vicious cycle. My problem is...I don't even know where on Earth to start. I cook almost all of our meals so we're not eating a diet consisting only of frozen entrees or fast food, but it's still not sound, healthy, well rounded meals. Lots of "cream of.." soups, velveeta cheese, Kraft cheese for the grilled cheese sandwiches, store-purchased white bread, frozen pizza, pop tarts, Kraft mac 'n cheese, Doritos, Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops...you get the picture.
I have a tiny kitchen and not much room for *stuff* and big appliances. I know it's not going to be an overnight transition and it's going to take me a while to weed out all of this junk entirely. I just feel so overwhelmed even trying to figure out where on Earth to start!
I want to feed my daughter healthy meals and I don't want to continue this vicious cycle of crap food. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably never say no to Pepsi and Kraft Mac forever, but I don't want to be eating it on a weekly basis...you know? Also, we could never go vegetarian so that's not an option for us at all. And we don't eat fish/seafood.
Help me! Here are a few things we eat on a regular basis to give you an idea of the things we like: stroganoff (onion soup mix and cream of soup+ sour cream), spaghetti, hamburgers, gulash, salads, chicken strips, BLTs, crock pot rotisserie chicken, taco soup, enchiladas (store bought sauce..), baked ziti, tacos, pork loin, roast (cream of soups..).
See? I need help! Lots of it!
Here's the list of fruits/veggies we like: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, lettuce, corn, carrots, celery, apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, and kiwi (I'm sure there's more, hard to think of them all). I only like FRESH veggies, never cooked. I'll tolerate *very small* amounts of onions in food, but I don't care for it very much. I'll admit I don't really even know if I like things like zucchini, eggplant, etc. because I've never tried them and I'm nervous to do so, haha! I'm kind of a picky eater.
So....now what? I don't like to spend hours in the kitchen every day cooking so the easier the better. Point me in the right direction!!
Re: Help? Tired of the processed JUNK.
http://cleaneatingmachine.blogspot.com/
Check out the Q&A at the top of the H&F section. There are TONS of great links! I know the feeling. I've never been able to really kick the processed food thing, but I remember how great it feels when you're not on it.
Just at the top of the page, there is a link--in the green section under the board name.
My Clean Eating Blog
Green Living Reading List
Your post reminds me of me two years ago- so there is hope!
I used to not eat ANY veggies or fruit except corn, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and bananas. And I rarely ate those things. I lived off of food that came out of a box or a can. The way I improved is by cooking! I LOVE to cook. My food blog is linked in my siggy. You can see how my cooking has evolved if you click back to the beginning, September of 2008. I used a lot of cream of _____, etc. Now I make homemade cream of chicken soup and it's actually a healthy alternative, and only uses common ingredients you have at home.
Start small. Switch to wheat bread. You may not like it at first, but you will get used to it. Try honey wheat if need be. For the cereals, switch it up a bit. Stop buying the ones that are loaded with sugar and artificial colorings and switch to the healthier kinds like Kashi, EnviroKids, etc. If you like kid like cereals I suggest Annie's Bunnies- they come in fruity bunnies, chocolate and vanilla, and something else.
I learned to eat veggies by dicing them small. I bought a mini chopper and put the onions and all other veggies and diced them tiny. That way I didn't see them- it was SO in my head. Now I live off of fruits and veggies but it was a slow, slow progression. It didn't happen over night.
My biggest suggestion is start cooking. You can transform your life, food wise, by learning how to cook. I can make anything from scratch and therefore have freed myself of boxes and cans. I should mention that when I started my food blog in September 2008 I really lived off of boxed foods and had NO idea what I was doing in the kitchen. I have since become quite comfortable in the kitchen. It takes time but it's worth the efforts!!
When I was changing my eating habits, it was easiest for me to start with breakfast! I tossed all the poptarts, sugary cereals, etc. On Sunday I made and froze enough breakfast burritos (or egg sandwiches, etc) for the week and that way I knew that 7/21 meals that week were going to be healthy. Once I started the day healthy, it kept me in that mindset all day and I found myself looking for ways to be healthier at lunch and dinner. My biggest tip is that healthy eating, especially at the beginning, requires planning. I plan 21 meals and 7 snacks a week. I make sure that I have those healthy things in the house, and I make Sunday my cooking day. You'd be surprised how much you can accomplish in 90 min on Sunday in the kitchen. At the end of that time I have my breakfasts prepared for the whole week, and the prep work done on several dinners so that they are ready to heat when I get home from work. Fruit gets washed and veggies are washed and cut for my lunchbox, peanut butter sandwiches are made and frozen and nuts or whatever snack I'm having get individually portioned.
When it seems so easy to just grab my pre-made healthy items during the week, I almost never fall back on fast food lunches or dinner-from-a-box.
i have a clean eating section on my blog and also a section with severeal clean eating blogs..
here is the clean eating section:
http://lovestoeat.wordpress.com/category/clean-eating/
here are clean blogs i follow:
http://brannyboilsover.com/
http://cleaneatingmachine.blogspot.com/
http://fresh4five.blogspot.com/
http://greencleanhealthymom.blogspot.com/
http://www.eatcleanlivegreen.com/recipes/
http://www.thecleaneatingmama.com/
http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/
http://www.tpox-proceedwithcaution.blogspot.com/
Lovestoeat Food Blog