3 Simple Changes

My journey toward better eating began with a trip to the doctor and three simple changes.

About six years ago my doctor gave a copy of "The Paleo Diet" (read on, this is not a plug for Paleo).  I didn't read it.  I clearly didn't think my eating habits were that bad.  I had never been a soda drinker - I liked water.  I didn't make a habit of eating packaged, processed snacks - although the occasional oatmeal cream pie found its way into my groceries.  I ate vegetables and had "balanced" meals.  I didn't buy potato chips - ever.  I ate fruit -  sometimes.  I didn't make a habit of "fast food."  Wasn't I doing the best I could do?  Then a conversation at a barbecue about sugar peaked my interest.

The woman I was talking to told me about a book she had been reading on sugar.  I don't know the name of this book still, but she was a trusted friend, and she gave me all the information I needed to be convinced that I needed a change.  Sugar was "addictive," she said.  As addictive as cocaine.  It was over processed.  In short, it was bad.

We had been going through white sugar a cup a week.  My husband, an avid sweet tea drinker, liked his one gallon pitcher of tea made with 1 cup of sugar.  I made a switch to organic evaporated cane juice and lessened the amount in the tea.  We never went back.

Several years later, after beginning to have blood sugar issues, I finally pulled "The Paleo Diet" off my shelf and read it.  It was life changing.  I did it full on for about four hard weeks.  I felt great.  I lost weight.  But because of the amount of prep, it was hard to maintain with children.  While I didn't stay exclusively on Paleo, it had changed my mindset on food forever.

This was the catalyst for the other two changes.  I switched to sea salt over regular table salt, and used almost none of it anyway.  I was cutting out salt.  (As a side note, now when I eat "salty" foods, they taste extremely salty - as they should, because they are!)  Then I cut out cow's milk in exchange for almond milk.  My daughter, almost 3, has rarely had cow's milk outside of the occasional cheese, yogurt or ice cream.

There were other changes as well, but these three simple changes began a slow momentum of "food change" in our lives.  And we are still changing.  I am currently reading "Salt, Sugar, Fat" and "Eat to Live," and I'm certain there are even bigger changes around the bend.

Next up...One Big Change with big impact...