Our Journey to Cleaner Eating Part 3: Things That Were the Easiest For Us to Change

Since I have already named off my "trouble" items, I'll now share the things that have been the easiest for us to change.  I have to say that every single one of these changes has resulted in a BETTER tasting food, not something we settled for.  I do not even think about our "old versions" and wish for them back.

Butter:  There is no way you can justify any kind of butter substitute as being good for you.  Real butter is the only way to go. I don't care if it says "olive oil blend" or "Heart Smart" or "made with REAL butter" or what.  It's GROSS, people.  Use real butter.  Like the stick kind.  Remember that stuff??  There's no substitute.

Eliminating Soft Drinks and Sugar-Sweetened Drinks:  I like sweet drinks.  Plain and simple.  But these can really wreck healthy eating like no other thing around.  They mess with your metabolism by tricking your brain, for one.  Your brain is registering calories, but your stomach is not processing food or getting full.  It messes with the brain receptors that are in charge of your metabolism.  Sweetened drinks are a gigantic source of empty calories.  If you sip on sweet tea all day, you would be shocked if you actually totaled up your calories from that drink alone. It's like a steady flow of sugar into your veins all day.  We never bought the full-sugar varieties of soft drinks, but we almost always had Diet Coke or Coke Zero around.  I would automatically crave one at lunch and that would set me on a bad path for the rest of the day.  Since I didn't often finish my drink at lunch, it would hang around throughout the afternoon.  By 2:00, I wanted some kind of salty snack, then I would finish the drink and I would want something sweet again.  It was a horrible cycle.  If I drink water or tea sweetened with Stevia, I do not feel that way at all.  No snacking, and no desire to snack. I make my flavored waters with a few drops of stevia, and I feel very satisfied..  Occasionally I'll have a SoBe LifeWater if I am in a hurry.  Those drinks do the trick and I don't keep wanting to snack all day.  DON'T BE FOOLED, THOUGH.  I do still love the stuff. I make a beeline to the fountain drink dispenser  many times when we eat out, and I mix myself a cup of chemical goodness that makes all right with the world.  I spend several hours in my state of carbonated and caffeinated euphoria, and I enjoy every moment.  And I usually want to eat a bunch of crap for the rest of the day.  For me, having none at home makes a HUGE difference, but I certainly don't deny myself a yummy soft drink once a week or so.


No-Calorie Sweeteners:  Stemming from the diet/sugary drinks - I'll talk about no-cal sweeteners. I went from Splenda to Truvia a few years ago.  Just recently, I found out that any Stevia product that was NOT a liquid contained dextrose.  Dextrose is a corn product, and that's the main ingredient in powdered or crystallized stevia sweeteners. Corn is the other largest GMO crop in our country and that's a bad thing. When you do your research on Stevia, it can be confusing.  I won't get into it on here, but if you want to read about it, click HERE.  I personally think it's the best option if you want to use a calorie-free sweetener, at least compared to other choices.  People in other cultures have been using it for centuries, and that is the BEST research, in my opinion.  The more I learn about foods, the less trust I have in the FDA.  Let's just say that it's down to about 0.02% trust at this point, with no chance of looking up, really.  So, liquid Stevia is what we use for now.  We do still make lightly sweetened tea with regular sugar, but we try to stick with about 1/4 cup per quart, or less. I also like the stevia in my tea, but coffee is where I use it the most.

Milk and Eggs:  We started buying non-homogenized milk from a local dairy, and it is SOOOO much better than store-bought milk.  It is only pasteurized once and not ultra-pasteurized.  Google that if you want more info.  Whether that matters or not (another verdict-is-out topic), it's darn good and it's supports local dairy farmers and that is something we should all do.  As for eggs, I get them from local people as well.  I have a couple of people that I buy them from.  Mainly, they are super-fresh (even new eggs at the store are already a couple of weeks old before they even get there) and once again, we should support local farmers.

Bread:  I have had no problems finding locally baked bread that does not contain preservatives.  Even our Kroger store carries local bread from a small bakery, and they have a nice little slicer over in the Artisan Bread section, so you can slice it right up.  I'm still going to try the Artisan Bread thing, though.

Ice Cream:  We do not buy store-bought ice cream anymore.  For one, I have an awesome ice cream maker (that's the next product review - stay tuned!!).  Two, when I have to make my own ice cream, we don't have it very often, and this is a good thing for my waistline.  Three, store-bought ice cream contains propylene glycol, which is a form of antifreeze.  This is what makes ice cream easier to scoop.  The FDA does not require it to be listed on the ingredients list because it's an "industry standard".  Did I mention how cool the FDA was and what great decisions they make?  If you have ever made homemade ice cream and put it in the freezer, it's hard as a rock when you get it out.  This is because it's made with real ingredients and not hidden chemicals (yes, even Breyer's, or it wouldn't be soft).  Even still, homemade ANYTHING is always better than store-bought, and if you have an easy way to do it, it's better for your body and tastes amazing!!

Hummus:  Digitt decided to become allergic to tahini, because that's just the kind of kid he is  (who has ever even HEARD of such a thing??).  He loved hummus, though, so I just learned to make my own.  Once again, so much better in taste and in ingredients, and no preservatives.  And way cheaper.

Pancakes and Muffins:  No more boxes.  It's so simple to make your own from scratch.  If I don't want to make the entire pancake recipe in the morning, I just mix up the dry ingredients the night before and it's super quick and easy.  Although I occasionally splurge and make real Cruze Farm Buttermilk pancakes, I usually just make a very healthy, hearty recipe that contains bananas, whole wheat flour, oatmeal, and wheat germ.  We throw in some mini chocolate chips, which we all love.  These are delicious!  My kids also LOVE muffins or breads for breakfast (usually zucchini bread or banana bread).  I make these all the time and keep them in the freezer.  They like their breads with cream cheese on them - quite tasty!!  Oh, and I always throw in some ground flaxseed into any bread I make.  Good source of Omega-3s, and they have no clue.

Oatmeal:  We usually only have oatmeal in the winter time.  I started cooking steel-cut oats in the crock pot overnight.  They are so healthy and the kids love it.  I let them top theirs with raisins, mini chocolate chips, or a few sprinkles.  They think it's really fun.  It's just too darn hot in the summer, though.

Granola Bars:  Never buying them again.  I recently learned to make my own granola in the crock pot (SO easy), and I use it to make the granola bars.  Now, there is really no granola bar that would be considered a "health food", per se, at least not if you wanted it to stick together.  My granola bars are really considered desserts.  They have a good bit of brown sugar, honey, and olive oil in them.  Healthy ingredients, but not exactly low in calories and/or sugar.  We often mix in dark chocolate and organic shaved coconut.  These are probably the best ever!!

Cheese:  I only buy full-fat cheese blocks now if I can.  I shred them myself with either my food processor or the shredding/slicing attachment on my Kitchen Aid mixer.  Bagged shredded cheese contains lots of junk:  mold inhibitors/preservatives, wood cellulose, and potato starch to name a few.  These are mainly to keep the pieces from sticking together.  My one exception is that I love the shredded Mexican cheese that already has the spices in it.  YUM!

Peanut Butter:  This is one place I really thought I could cut out the refined sugar.  I have tried several varieties, and I have found that for me, whatever product I buy MUST have salt in it.  The first natural peanut butter we tried was the in-store ground peanut butter from EarthFare.  It had no salt, and I just couldn't take it. It was pasty and too flavorless.  Next up was Maranatha. It had salt added, and was good, but still not great.  Now, watch out on the peanut butters.  If palm oil is something you want to avoid (like I said, verdict is out), then do NOT get the no-stir versions.  Palm oil is what keeps you from having to stir.  Don't be scared of the kind you have to stir.  Once you get it all mixed up, you should keep it in the refrigerator.  It will not separate again.  I still give mine a little stir, but it's stays mixed for the most part.  The last one I have tried (and stuck with) was Smucker's Natural.  It's by far the cheapest, too, coming in at about half the price of the others.  I decided to not worry about going organic with this one because peanuts are grown underground, for one, and they are also in a shell.  Pesticides can't really be too prevalent.  Secondly, I did call Smuckers because I was curious as to where they sourced their peanuts.  She told me that they primarily come from the southern United States as long as they are available.  She said they strive to get all of the peanuts from the U.S. if they can, meaning that potentially some could come from other countries.  Since I am kinda dense about geography and land types and climates, TriDad reassured me that he didn't think there were good growing conditions for peanuts in China.  He also knows I am very gullible.  He also knows I like to talk a lot.  He sometimes gets tired of my soapboxes.  He sometimes just wants to shut me up.  Take it for what it's worth.

Popcorn: Microwave popcorn is frightening.  Get yourself some popcorn (non-GMO/organic would be nice, but I won't be picky - just stop buying the crap, OK??).  Get yourself a popcorn popper.  Or just get yourself a pot and put it on the stove. Get yourself some olive oil (and I'm going to try sunflower oil too!) and some salt.  Save yourself some moo-lah.  Save your body from disgusting chemicals.  We have a Stir Crazy popper and I love it.  There are also air poppers, but I like a little oil on mine.  The air popped corn is a little too blah and dry for me.  Sometimes we get a little crazy and put some seasoned salt or Parmesan cheese on it.  It's so incredibly easy and it literally takes 5 minutes.  You will never go back to the nastiness.  Even if you like to snack on some at work, pop it at home and put it in a ziplock bag.  People will be jealous.  They will also be thankful that you don't make the office reek of either:  A) burned popcorn and they will be mad at you or B) delicious chemical nastiness that makes their brains crave said nastiness.  *****  I think that I should include a disclaimer here, because I have some close friends reading this blog.  I live and die for movie popcorn with the butter that's one molecule away from being plastic.  Halfway and all the way.   Thankfully (or unfortunately?) I don't make it to the movies very often these days.

And those were a few of my favorite things!

**Edited because Part 4 really didn't have much to it, so I'm not going to add it.  Stay tuned for a recipes post, though it might take me a few days to get them together!  :)