Happy Sunday!
Well, here we go. Ryan and I officially begin a new chapter tomorrow in our pursuit of healthier living. This weekend I couldn’t help but drink a soda, eat a candy bar, etc. with the thought of ‘this is my last ever (insert crappy-good-for-nothing food or drink here)”. But you know what, I can’t see myself missing any of the things I allowed myself to consume this weekend knowing I would be done with them all going forward. Actually, it’s rare that I eat that stuff on a regular basis, so I’m not quite sure why I felt like I needed it one last time. The fact is, the benefits of eating healthy food that taste just as good if not better, and don’t make you feel like a piece of trash afterwards far outweigh the ‘benefits’ of ‘treating’ yourself to that cheeseburger, fries and one-too-many cookies.
Ryan and I got A LOT accomplished this weekend around the house. Not only did we do regular summer-prep work outside, but we also planted our first small raised bed garden and did a huge purge of the not-so good for you food in our pantry, fridge/freezer and cabinets. As I mentioned before, we have been on this health food kick for the beginning part of this year so far, so it wasn’t major. Our “snack” cabinet was pretty bare and I think I threw out two or three items, the majority of which was old Christmas candy that we never ate. (I know–we’re slobs.) I took the opportunity to clean out the spice cabinet and found some really great things in there I forgot I had, including an old green food coloring spill. Can’t remember when that happened, but it was a blast to clean up as you can imagine.
Moving onto the fridge I cleaned out condiments I hadn’t used in a while or bought for one specific recipe and didn’t touch again. [By the way, don't you hate that? I promise I will do my best not to do that to you guys.] And all of the ‘fat-free’, ‘low-fat’ and ‘zero calorie’ scary things I had in there from my last diet plan (which did not end very long ago). I don’t even want to think about what that stuff is made from! I did my absolute best to purge without being wasteful. For example, I know my friend Sarah could use the new bottle of squeezable grape jelly I had in the fridge, and I’ll give my mom the frozen pie crusts I had on hand. It killed me to throw away a few bags of good food, but the bigger picture is more important to me…and a lot of it we weren’t ever going to use anyway.
Last but not least was the pantry. (dun dun duunnnn) This task was a little more daunting than the few that came before it. You see, our ‘pantry’ is pretty makeshift and I’ve hated it for the three years we’ve lived in this house. It doesn’t have shelves. At all. It’s literally a door that opens to nothing–not even finished walls! I stuck an organizer in there that I used in my dorm and apartments through college, but it really doesn’t do the job well.
Here is the before:
Yikes. And here is where we are now:
That’s right everyone. I’ve decided that if I can’t eat everything I want and live a long, healthy life…I just won’t eat. Kidding!
So, along with this switch to real food comes (*drum roll please*) a completely new, redesigned, REAL PANTRY! You guys. I know this makes me sound a lot older than I am, but I can’t wait to have an organized place to put my dry food items! Can I get an AMEN for organization?! It’ll take us a week or so to get everything together, but I will be posting ‘after’ photos in the very near future.
It’s funny how making a small change like the way you eat can lead to a total life overhaul, isn’t it? I started by going through a few cabinets and getting rid of things that aren’t positive contributors to my life and overall well-being, but I have a good feeling this purge will translate through the rest of my home, my jewelry business and most likely my life overall. I read an article recently that was talking about real food, and the message was that if you crowd enough of the good stuff in, the bad stuff will naturally be removed just because there isn’t any room! I think that is so simple, yet so profound, and I have carried it with me everyday since. Here is to making room for a whole lot of good! Happy eating, friends.
Eat Real. Be Real.
Rachel
