Food Musings

If I haven't told you this before I'll say it again. I love food. It is my passion. I love to eat it, cook it, and read about it.

And I'm a big proponent of eating real, whole foods.

I believe it's good for the mind, the body and the soul.

It helps to slow down our fast paced lives when we reconnect with our food.

When we prepare foods from scratch, using fresh ingredients and we share what we've prepared with our family around the table at the end of the day it brings peace and satisfaction into our world. It can't help but slow down the fast pace we're all running and allow us the time we need to reconnect with those most important to us.

And it's so much more nourishing to our bodies.

When we cook our food we can control the ingredients; the fat, the sugar, and the salt.

But on this note,while eating real foods is ideal...I do live in the real world and I know it's not always possible.

So don't put too much pressure on your self.

Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to be a perfectionist.

Start slowly, change a little bit at a time. Going too fast will only set you up for failure.

Don't beat yourself up when you eat a packaged food or grab something from the local fast food place.

Just remember that every time you choose real food it is good, but if you don't all the time then that is okay too. But I'll bet you that the more you choose real, the more you'll want real.

And remember that when you do choose prepackaged foods or grab from the corner take-out shop that some choices will be better than others.

Find foods with...

* as few ingredients as possible

* stick to ingredient names you can at least pronounce

Watch our for...

* "enriched"

* high fiber fructose corn syrup

* trans fats

* hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated

* dyes

* artificial sweeteners

Remember that every time you choose real foods it is a good thing.

But it's not the end of the world if you don't.

And that is this gal's view for today.