Change

Here we go.

A new year…a new challenge. And this year's challenge is to CHANGE the way I eat. And to change the way my family eats. I am going to take us back to the basics. We are going to eat clean, real food. I hope to incorporate vegan and vegetarian meals as well.

There are two main reasons for doing this.

1. Infertility. In 11 years of marriage we have been trying to get pregnant for more than 8 years. We did have our one miracle girl five years ago (thanks to Clomid), but have been unable to conceive since then. We have had many failed rounds of Clomid, a failed IUI, a failed Letrozole cycle, and a failed IVF cycle since my daughter was born. I want to heal my body. And if we get pregnant on the way - AWESOME. And if we don't and decide to pursue more assisted reproductive technology (ART), then I will know that I've done all I can. AND - I'll be a lot healthier.

2. Cancer. My husband's father died of prostate cancer at age 63. Diet can change a lot of that. I DO NOT want to wake up in 30 years and wish I had done more. I do not want my husband to die of cancer like his dad and grandfather did. And if he still develops cancer, we will know we did all we could to change it.

We just got back from our Christmas vacation to California to visit my family. It was our last hurrah. Junk food and junk food and more junk food. I am ready to start this.

First I had to do the grocery shopping. While at the grocery store I felt I was being bombarded with so many unhealthy eating choices. It all looked SO GOOD! It took a lot of will power to not add any junk to my cart. I discovered the bulk section today at my local grocery store. I was very pleased with it. It is also quite expensive to eat this way. My bill today totaled: $204.70. That's more than I've ever spent. There were a few things I bought that won't be bought every week, so hopefully next week it will be less, but I can definitely see that our grocery bill will go up. Why is it so much cheaper to eat unhealthy?

Anyway, today was our first day. And I'm pleased to report that the only thing that didn't pass the "clean eating" bill was the corn tortillas I bought. I tried to find the "cleanest" available, but the options weren't good. I need to either make my own or find some that don't have preservatives or sugar.

Dinner tonight was Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos with Chipotle Crema.

My sister and her husband raved about these and I'll admit that I was very apprehensive since I have an aversion to sweet potatoes. But, I'll tell you that they weren't that bad. :) I had to close my eyes and really focus on the flavors to realize that they weren't bad. Silly, I know. Doug didn't like the yogurt chipotle sauce (said it tasted too much like sour cream) and Paige didn't want to eat it at all. Well, she ate a little bit of the corn tortilla. We'll be having leftovers tomorrow night. Doug would like me to fry the tortillas. I don't know if frying tortillas is clean, but I'll fry them in olive oil and drain excess oil.

Then later tonight I ground some wheat and made bread. I also made a "clean" granola. Recipe here. I used oats and doubled it.

I'm inspired tonight from this post at Word of Wisdom Living.

I want to be healthy. Earlier today when writing out the menu for the week I felt overwhelmed, thinking that maybe I can't make all these changes, but then I remembered that it is all a process. And as long as I am trying to change, well, that's what counts. I count today as a success and hope tomorrow will be successful too!

I will be updating this blog frequently to track my journey.