Photo by Kereni at Pixabay.com.
Love this color rose!
Packaged foods can be great.
They give us relief - too tired to cook.
They taste good - I’m sad, I have my favorite breakfast bar for the morning. Yippee!
They give us time - I have time to be with the love of my life. More time to do for others, cleaning, massages, sex……
Prepared foods have long been known to cause harm to our bodies. At 16 I got mono. My mom had been buying me prepared boxed and frozen foods solely where she wasn’t cooking anymore going through a divorce being emotionally depleted. My doctor I went to since a baby told her this is why I was sick. This woman would have a pot of soup on the stove whenever I went for a doctor visit, and it was often. My dad (not real dad I found out recently) smoked and blew it in my face regularly and felt to eat the American processed food that we came about with as the best thing (velvets, hotdogs, fish sticks, etc. He wasn’t into the extra money of processed foods though, just the additives usually to our regular home cooked meals, which made a big difference still then in bad health. Unfortunately my mom still years later died of stomach upset with a fridge filled with diet Weight Watchers items. She had to be thin……
But, just a few minor changes to start can help us take a better road. Maybe we don’t want to give up ALL our favorite boxed treats. Simple, just cut back. Here’s a few example tips to help do that:
Homemade BBQ Sauce - there is SO much sugar in BBQ Sauce. I don’t buy it anymore because I can’t afford the better ones without harsh chemicals, additives, and loads of sugar. A simple solution to many others is to make one of those favorite boxed foods once a week to substitute a better store bought BBQ Sauce. Or make your own. Plan for when you want to use it since it doesn’t last as long without preservatives.
Your own spice packets: I can’t believe how easy and how much better homemade taco seasoning is. I never buy premade anymore. There’s no hydrogenated oils or preservatives that eventually make our weakened bodies from age, abuse, and/or disease vulnerable to worsen outcomes. We actually can reverse a lot of this. I’m living proof, though sadly I’ll fight for the rest of my life to stay alive with the horrible injuries to my body. It’s an awakening we can only know. Our bodies tell us what we need.
Yogurt: I can’t stress enough how easy it is and how good for you it is to make your own yogurt. Your husband will love it. You can make homemade vanilla yogurt out of it with honey and vanilla in it and serve fresh fruit with it to your loved one. He’ll love it! And he’ll thank you because it’s the first healthy step to take to get your body to read what you need.
Salad dressing: I would love to buy a bottle of salad dressing that’s healthy. It doesn’t exist. AND it’s expensive. You can find perhaps one bottle at a health food store but I get sick of that one flavor. And once again that $5 that you spend that week you can put it toward a more expensive packaged food for your convenience. So there doesn’t have to be an all or nothing. Soybean oil in mayo and salad dressing isn’t healthy. I can tell you firsthand where my body sends of signals and I can tell you. Buy a more expensive mayo instead with avocado oil exclusively in it. Your body will thank you.
Snacks - I love snacks. I love salty snacks. I actually have to be careful to get enough sodium where I don’t buy many packaged foods though and only use a minimal amount of sea salt per day, that’s not usual I know. But for the most part it’s hard to find those salty snacks I love that are healthy with a good oil: coconut, avocado , olive, and sea salt. I search wherever I go for them. Happily I find them sometimes, but for the most part I have to make them. This is tiring I know. Perhaps the money here again can be a switch off to a better food preparation packet for your dinner.
Homemade cheese crackers gluten free or not, keto or not: I like almond flour where carbs will raise your triglycerides if eaten too often. I choose to limit those in between meals. I certainly eat them if I’m fatigued and my body is calling for them. Homemade cheese crackers are easy and great.
Breakfast food is the worst: The first part of our day we want to look forward to every night. Perhaps we can make our own breakfast bars with honey or maple syrup, dried fruit, homemade coconut sugar chocolate chips, etc. Overnight oatmeal cups a lot of people love. They last in the fridge 5 days. Perhaps once or twice a week you can have that delicious sugar sweetened store bought bar. I used to eat one bad thing a week. I relished this. Now I don’t quite miss it so much. I like to complain and figure out what I’ll make.
For more ideas visit my blog and check out the chefs I’ve gotten ideas from. They mostly run this way throughout their sites. Take care!
https://loriinthekitchen.blogspotcom
