Day 1: Evening

So, went grocery shopping for the week. Seemed like I spent more than usual, but I am replacing quite a few things.
Did cook a bunch and have meals for the whole week. Bought a pound of buffalo meat - pricey, more than eight dollars a pound! But it is leaner, higher in protein, and don't have all the antibiotics and hormones. And tastes great.
So, the meat was pricey, but I got a jar of organic spaghetti sauce (the store organic brand, nice!) for $3 and a box of organic, whole wheat penne for $2. Also, got mushrooms - just the regular kind - for $2. Cooked it all up and divided it into six meals for the whole week. So, that comes out to $2.50 a meal.
With it, I got some organic mixed greens for $2 a bag, added a little feta, carrots, and snow peas, with some natural, low-fat mango vinaigrette. Pretty good meal overall.
 Dessert was some locally produced, hormone-free strawberry flavored whole milk. Very fresh. The milk comes in glass bottles - just pay a deposit for the bottle and return it to the store when you're done - so not so much waste, which is a nice thing.

Day 1

I made a decision recently to start taking better care of myself. Life is too short as it is, and that being the case, the less of my life I spend feeling like crap, the better. So I'm starting this blog to help 1) keep me motivated and 2) keep a log of my progress. Have been watching what I eat for awhile now, but not really. I have always been mindful about watching calories and fat, but less so what is in my food. So, one goal will to be eat food that is natural as possible. The more ingredients on the label that I can pronounce, the better, and along with that logic, often that will also mean the fewer ingredients on the label, the better. And just avoiding labels as much as possible altogether, so as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible

A face a few challenges. I am a graduate student, so I am more definitely on a budget. Also, having time for shopping and cooking is often a challenge. Also, I live in a rural area in a small college town - so often the selection as far as organic or natural foods is limited in the local grocery stores. But I have found locally produced milk and eggs in some stores, and there is a small market in town that sells organic and local foods.

One goal of this diet will be to watch my sugar intake, I do have a sweet tooth. Unfortunately, in going through my fridge, surprised to discover how many foods have added sweetener - usually corn syrup - in them. For example, was surprised to find the fruit juice I had purchased last week had corn syrup in it. Juice is already sweet, why is this necessary?

So far today, I have eaten two natural chicken sausages and three locally produced, cage-free eggs. Drinking green tea today as I study, instead of diet soda.

Already feeling pretty good lately. I've been easing into this over the last week, and this will probably be a gradual process of trying some new things. I typically weigh myself weekly on Wednesday, but even after a few days I've lost about three pounds. Will see if that's still the case this Wednesday.