so..how's my progress??

[bobandjess99]

I've been struggling for a while, my journey is long and slow, lol, but i think we've finally gotten to a place where I can obtain and prepare a fairly healthy, somewhat TF diet for my family.

Here's what we've done.
Joined a cow share. Have access to raw, organic 90-100% grassfed milk, butter, cream, cheese, etc. --We commonly drink raw milk and are using the butter and cream and eating the cheese.
Joined a local food coop and have access to pastured/organic/free range pork, beef and poultry products, as well as organic produce and fermented products. -- Are eating mostly beef and chicken, and some sausage, as well as lots of eggs. There are not many options for fresh local produce this time of year, so we get what organic we can at the supermarket for now. Are buying fermented raw sauerkraut, pickles, and kimchee, and Kombucha.
Are buying (for now) traditionally made bread from a local bakery.
Are using sea salt and real spices, no more prepackaged flavorings or MSG!
Are using coconut oil, butter and olive oil almost exclusively for oils.
Have started drinking green tea daily. (not tf, but good for you anyway, lol)
Have drastically reduced consumption of sugar, wheat, HFCS, trans fats, soda, soy in all forms, nitrates, MSG and other preservatives. Have drastically reduced eating out, which has also helped some with the budget for buying all these very expensive foods.

I'm still finding it hard to cut out ALL the soy..my gosh, they put that in EVERYthing!!! Salad dressing is my big downfall. Even the "organic" and "natural" salad dressings use soybean oil, and i NEED dressing(NOT just olive oil and vinegar, blech) in order to eat all my greens and veggies. Will gladly take suggestions here?

I'm personally fighting my GIANT sweet tooth. I'm doing pretty well actually.
I don't like fermented stuff, but am trying to like it. DS has a milk allergy, so that limits him in some areas. DD also has my giant sweet tooth, so thats work also. I'm trying to use relatively healthy natural ice cream and organic chocolate to curb the cravings.

We're still struggling a lot with convenience foods/time management and making the time to actually prepare healthymeals from scratch. I mean, it took me 2 hours today to cook dinner. Yikes! That part is still taking a lot of effort to remember to plan ahead and stuff.

So anyway....there you go. That's where we're at right now. We'll probably backslide before moving forward, lol, but we keep chugging along.

Comments, questions, suggestions?

[chattyprincess]

I am amazed! I wish I could be doing as well as you are doing. I love your coop/milk share, you must feel so blessed! We are unable to find or have access to something like that here, it stinks!
Is your dd eating alot of fresh fruit? I know for me if I am not eating enough fresh fruit then I crave sugar wicked bad. But if I am eating a ton of really good quality fresh fruit then normal sugar things hold no intrest for me.
The best homemade italian dressing...I play around with mine alot.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Italian...ix/Detail.aspx
I will also blend vinegar, raspberries, mustard and honey to taste as some kind of dressing to mix it up.
intesting ranch mix idea.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ranch-D...ix/Detail.aspx

[Magelet]

good job mama. looks great.

as for the salad dressings, you really can make good salad dressings at home. I use about 6 parts extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 a part red wine vinegar and 1/2 a part balsamic, and 1-2 parts olive oil and slowly salt until the dressing tastes good (it is a good bit of salt, but go slow until you learn how much.) (honestly, it looks more like this: pour olive oil into a mug, about 3/4 of an inch high. add equal amounts red wine and balsamic vinegars til the bottom is about 3/4 covered. add a giant heap of mustard, whip up, salt to taste, and use.) the mustard helps emuslify it, and if you add a lot of mustard, you will have something the texture of commercial dressings. i make a lot of other dressings now too, but that is my standby, and that makes it easy, to master one simple dressing first. (if you like something else, my recomendations are: 5-6 parts olive oil to 1 part acid, some acid, some sweet (balsamic, or maple syrup, or honey, or molasses, or), lots of mustard, and some salt.)

Homemade salad dressing really can be much tastier than storebought, I'm not sure exactly what the specific reason that "oil and vinegar" doesn't work, however, the mustard will make it thicker. making sure that the lettuce leaves are all thouroughly coated helps as well.

For the sweet tooth, what I learned recently is that "catching up" on your fats will greatly diminish your sweet tooth. so definitely work on reducing your sugar, but give it time for the fats to kick in as well. I think it took me a year of catching up on my fats, and now, I really don't have much of a taste for refined sugar, and don't crave it at all. (now chocolate at that time of the month is a different story, but I like it with only unrefined sugars)

In terms of liking fermented foods, 1. just keep at it and 2. try eating them different ways. I don't like sourkraut plain but in the same bite as meat (on a sandwhich, speared on the fork alongside meat, etc) is great. 3. try different types. yogurt? buttermilk? piima cream? creme fraiche, different pickled veggies, pickled in different spices?

your doing awesome!

[nerdymom]

Sounds like you are doing really well, be proud of yourself!

[Drummer's Wife]

I agree, you are doing great. You're ahead of me in many ways! I haven't bought salad dressing for probably 6 mos. or so, and have fun experimenting with different recipes. NT has an easy base recipe (olive oil, vinegars, dijon, salt and pepper) as well as different ways to flavor it. We love to add crumbled feta cheese and bacon pieces and it's yummy over fresh baby spinach.

I think the cooking thing will get shorter in time, or you'll just get used to spending so much time in the kitchen Don't forget you can make up extras and freeze them for convenience on busy nights. That will keep you from ordering pizza or picking up take-out.

[CookAMH]

You're doing great. I think in the budget area, the more you can MAKE the cheaper it is. I know time is short but if you had a Saturday where you could make yogurt, kefir, salad dressings, mayo etc then you can be stocked for the week.

Making salad dressings is EASY and bottled salad dressings just don't compare. My favorite salad is spring greens, pecans, crumbled goat cheese and Craisins with the below dressing. Craisins aren't the best choice since they have sugar, but you could slice an apple or pear instead and it's a delicious, satisfying salad.

A simple dressing is:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

So good!!