a whole new approach

Recently at Casa Lopresti, we've been making some big changes to the food we buy, cook and eat.  It can be very overwhelming (not to mention expensive) to make a lot of changes at once.  Especially when you're used to grocery shopping on a budget, as we are in our household.  There is a lot of confusing information out here, thousands of books, articles and websited dedicated to the subject of healthy food and healthy living.

For many good reasons, we've decided to stop buying so many processed foods, foods with food dyes, foods with high fructose corn syrup, and we're rying to eat more organic, whole,natural foods.  We've talked to the boys about these changes and I think its going to take some getting used to.  The bottom line is, if we don't teach our kids how to eat the right things, who will?  Its true, we are what we eat.  And we love food at Casa Lopresti.  We love shopping for it, buying it, cooking it, and we certainly love eating it.  We love growing it too (or at least Andrew does) so we're off to a good start in that department.

What I've learned very quickly is you can spend a fortune eating everything organic.  If you walk through any normal grocery store (other than Whole Foods or Trader Joe's) you'll quickly notice all the products on sale are the junk food.  PopTarts, 2 boxes for $5!  Doritos, Buy One Get One Free!  I used to know better than to buy that stuff.  But something happened along the way of having kids.....kids who in certain food phases have been known to only eat a total of five foods.  Plus, its confusing when you go the grocery store right?  All natural, low fat, low cholesterol, no triglycerides, grass fed, organic, with natural ingredients... what does it all mean?  It means in order to grocery shop and buy the 'right' things, you have to read the labels. And to read the labels, you can't have any children with you.  Not an easy task for a stay at home mom who is trying to get the hell out of the grocery store without any fruit snacks in the grocery cart before the five year old hits the wall and throws himself face down in the middle of the aisle.  I have been that mom at the grocery store, throwing the Pringles into the grocery cart just to silence the whining.  

I have at least managed to stand my ground on some things... we have never allowed sodas, we insist they drink a lot of water, and we enforce a fruit with every meal. They love sweet potatoes, and carrots with dip, and black beans and fruit smoothies.  Dylan prefers to pack his lunch (which I do for him still, so its healthy), and Logan doesn't eat lunch at school yet.  I do pack him a healthy snack everyday...applesauce, fruit leather, fresh fruit, etc.  So we're not HORRIBLE eaters, but we could sure make better choices in a lot of areas.  We have a lot of things going for us. Andrew loves to grow food and we have an amazing garden, thanks to him.  We both enjoy cooking, and we truly enjoy a variety of healthy, great foods.

We're hoping one benefit to these dietary changes, of course, will be that we all feel better.  There have been a lot of studies regarding kids, behavorial issues, and food dyes, like this study.   If removing some of the chemicals can help all of us, including Logan, we'll never go back again.  And by the way, have you tasted organic milk?  Its totally delicious.  I'm not a big milk drinker but this could change all of that for me.

So we're trying to go back to the basics.  Healthy, all natural, nothing BLUE.  Are we going to let our kids trick or treat?  Are we going to enjoy ourselves at Disney in two weeks?  Yes. The book I recently borrowed from my friend Jersey Baby, "The Unhealthy Truth" has a ton of great information not to mention a realistic attitude towards it all.  If you can try to live an 80/20 lifestyle, you're doing pretty darn good.   80% natural, healthy, whole foods.  I think we can do that.  Also, the book scared the crap out of me about the amount of toxins and chemicals in our foods.  So we're starting to go organic with our dairy products and thanks to my sister-in-law, this great list of the "dirty dozen" fruits and veggies to try and buy organic.  Eventually we'll probably try and buy more organic meats too.

I'm thinking I'll be posting quite a bit about this new adventure with food.  As we try products that are new to us, or as I make recipes that are a hit with our family, I'd love to share them here.  Fortunately I have a lot of friends who are already helping to educate me on what's healthy.  Its not like I didn't know this, but somehow I've forgotten it seems.  I'm a little late for this party, but better late than never.

The good news is, we're living in a time of huge variety.  You can buy Gatorade with no artificial flavors or colors.  Chances are, you have a farmers market near you where you can buy straight from the source.  If you read and educate yourself, you can easily make the choice between say.. a box of fruit snacks which are nothing but corn syrup and food dye, and the delicious, all natural Wegmans Fruit Flats. 

Speaking of which, our kids are big on snacks.   They do, fortunately, like plenty of healthy snacks -- fresh fruit, cheese, popcorn, dried fruit, yogurt.  But if given the chance, they will also choose junk if its in the pantry.  I went through our pantry this week and threw out a ton of stuff I'm putting on our 'no' list.... microwave popcorn, fruit snacks, flavored chips, soups and breads flavored with high fructose corn syrup, Pop Tarts and  Toaster Strudels (yes, I'm embarrassed to say I had those things.  When you have picky eaters like we do, you'll resort to desperation sometimes just to see them eat something.)   Thanks to my friend Jersey Baby who told me about this oh-so-fun old-fashioned stove top popcorn maker.  Its in the mail already and we can't wait to cook up our first batch. 

She also is has a friend who writes a great blog called Sweet Peas and Pumpkins, written by an Ohio mom who strives to cook healthy, natural, wholesome meals for her family including her self-proclaimed two picky little boys.  Her site offers a wide selection of healthy, kid friendly recipes and its organized really well.  Lots of great photos and all around great tips for healthy eating.

I made this delicious white chicken chili earlier this week, yummy!  We topped it with fresh chunks of avocado, lite sour cream and cheese, and fresh chopped cilantro.  Logan still wasn't eating anything due to his sore throat, but Dylan did try it.  It wasn't his favorite but we'll keep trying.

This afternoon, I made Sweet Pea Chef's homemade hummus and everyone agreed, its a hit.  I can't believe how fresh, easy and inexpensive it was to make it.  Sure, a jar of tahini is about $8 but once you buy it you can make many, many batches of hummus over the months.  A couple cloves of garlic, juice from one lemon, one can of chick peas, 1 TBSP olive oil, and a decent food processor.  Coupled with Stacy's Naked Pita chips...its a delicious, natural, healthy snack perfectly fit for an afternoon of football watching.  Best of all, the kids love it, and its a much better snack choice than neon colored chips.

I may sound like I'm flipping out.  I'm not going to buy a cow or raise chickens in the backyard (not that it wouldn't be cool).  I'm not going to churn my own butter or make my own yogurt.  Well, maybe someday it would be fun to try!  But I am going to start making better choices about what foods I buy, starting now.  The light NON-GREEN mint chip ice cream for my boys, with a short list of ingredients I can read, instead of the neon green ice cream with an ingredient list a mile long.  No high fructose corn syrups in our bread or cereal.  No more sugary coffee creamers. We've changed to these sugar free syrups for our coffee, and half and half.

It really just boils down to making better choices.  Avoiding preservatives, additives, and chemicals whenever possible.  Teaching our kids how to make good choices about what they put in their bodies.  Food has gotten so convenient and processed during my lifetime.  What will food be like twenty years from now, when our boys have to shop for their families?  Its a little scary to think what people could possibly be eating by then if we all don't make some changes now.

I'm looking for any and all food ideas, recipes, products and information to embrace this healthy food overhaul.  If you're reading this and would like to share anything your family loves food-wise, please do. I've gotten so many great ideas already from friends and family.  We all want to feel good about what we eat, and we want to feel like we're making the best choices for ourselves and our families. 

I know I'll be spending a lot more time in the aisles of Wegmans reading labels, researching recipes, and bringing more whole foods back into our lives.  Life is sweet, life is short, and we are what we eat.