COOKING!

So, as you may know by my Healthy Eating Series that I am trying to avoid processed foods. Furthermore I am now exploring a flexterian style diet. Flexterian? Is there such a thing? Yep, I didn't just make it up! It's a "mostly vegetarian" that sometimes eats meat. Okay, now this is something I can work with! I tend to have issues when cutting out entire groups of foods. I do however hope to become a vegetarian some day, but for now I seriously need to take baby steps! Like I've said before, when learning a new habit it's best for me to take it slow. I get overwhelmed to easily if I don't. Mainly because I put so much pressure on myself to get it "just right". Well, this flexterian thing is made just for me!!!!

Why a diet change?

Well, if you don't already know I have asthma. Can you imagine coming down with asthma at age 33? I knew for the past few years that I have had trouble breathing and finally got tested. Did you know processed foods and GMO foods can cause asthma? What has my diet over the past, I don't know, 33 years consist of? Processed foods! Now I have to admit my mother was great at cooking from scratch, so my diet was much better then than it is now! So back to the drawing board! It's time to get healthy!!!!

Also, my husband who is also 33 has high cholesterol. I don't want him to have to go on prescription meds for so many reasons. So we need to get that down. We did it before with exercise and diet, but we've slipped up with our busy life. Time to get back on board and stay there!

Tip for those with high cholesterol: Use a product called Benecol Smart Chews to lower your number fairly quickly. This stuff is AMAZING and it is worth every penny! Just know that with any supplement you will need to incorporate diet and exercise. We lowered his cholesterol before using this, 30 minutes cardio a day, and cutting out red meat (you can have chicken and turkey in small amounts). We used it for 2-3 months and stopped using it. We then were able to stabilize it with diet and exercise alone. The doctor was VERY impressed! No RX required! Also I do not recommend using sterols. Stick with a supplement that uses stanols. Sterols have been known to weaken blood vessels over time.

So, to help me along my journey I am renting TONS of cookbooks from the library this week. I will come back and let you know how they went and maybe even post some videos for you to! So stay tuned! This is going to be exciting!