Day 2

Day 2 is off to a slow start. Stayed up too late watching ridiculous reality television. Breakfast included a packet of low-sugar instant oatmeal and a slice of whole grain bread with homemade raspberry jam.
The oatmeal did contain some suspect preservatives, but I can't just throw it all out. The jam was made yesterday using freshly picked raspberries from my neighbor's garden.
Since moving to Northern VA, my neighbors have truly been my support group. Our whole street is lined with families of small children. It's all quite new and refreshing. In CA, we hardly knew any of our neighbors. Everyone just kept to themselves. But now, we have neighbors who share their garden's bounty, trade babysitting and enjoy communal dinners! I love it!
My next door neighbor, Amy, has been the biggest influence. She makes everything from scratch. And I mean, EVERYTHING! Homemade mayo, dressings, soy milk, salsa...I could go on. Everything she buys is organic and comes from local farms. We are fortunate here in NOVA to have a plethora of organic farms nearby. At first, I was stunned by the prices. For example, a dozen organic eggs is about $4, compared to $2.29 at the grocery store. But when you weigh the benefits of eating local, organic, free-range chickens to the questionable eggs from god-knows where at the grocery store - organic wins. I recently cracked open an organic egg to see if there was a difference. I found the shell to be tough and hard to crack, compared to the fragile shell of a non-organic egg. The size of the egg varied too. The organic egg was slightly larger, meaning you could eat less when scrambling eggs for breakfast. I'm going to hunt around for cheaper organic eggs - there's tons of farms to choose from around here.
Lunch was simple - turkey and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread. But, I noticed my fat-free mayo has high fructose corn syrup - ugh! It's gotta go. Snack: Greek Yogurt with cashews and honey. Dinner was better: grilled wild salmon, fresh steamed broccoli and black beans. Very simple and very tasty. I treated myself to 1 Fat-free Fig Newton today. I'm hoping to get a little more creative tomorrow - I have tons of garden fresh tomatoes that need to be eaten. Hmmm...what to make?

Day 1

Ok, so here it goes, my journey to get rid of all things processed in my life. It's going to tough for me. I love Pop-Tarts and my time in the kitchen is somewhat limited. My goals are simple: lose 30 lbs, lose the processed junk and create healthier eatings habits for my family. Did I say, "simple?" It sounds easy. But actually doing it is going to be one of the toughest journeys I've yet to encounter. I'm putting this out for the whole world to read. It's very hard to share these details, but I figure, if I'm going to do this, I'm going "whole hog."
Stats:
Current Weight: 178 (I just gained 6 lbs on vacation in the Deep South. Can you say BBQ?)
Height: 5', 5" (Yes, that reveals I am overweight and my BMI is off the charts)
Waist: 33"
Hips: 47" (Lots of junk in the trunk)
Bust: 36"
Whew! I'm sweating. Revealing that info is embarrassing. I used to be the skinny girl. The one in pretty bikinis. The thinnest of my friends. Now, I'm just another stay-at-home mom with muffin top, back fat and a big rear.
Some background info:
I'm 41. I've been a stay-at-home mom for the past five years. I have two girls, 5 and 3 1/2. I was in PR and Marketing for 15 years. I was good at it too and enjoyed my job immensely. But working 10-18 hour days, getting up early for morning news and staying late for premiere parties wasn't exactly going to fit in with motherhood (at least not in my book). We recently moved from beautiful San Diego to Northern VA for my husband's career.
I never really put too much thought into what I was buying at the grocery store. I've always eaten fairly healthy. I don't drink or buy soda, don't eat fried foods, my dairy is all fat-free or low-fat, I limit salt, alcohol, cholesterol and trans-fats, don't eat fast food, everything I buy is fat-free or low-fat and I only drink water - so WHY am I overweight???
Well, I do have hypo-thyroidism, which is an auto-immune disease which affects almost every function in the human body - including weight control. But recently, I started to look deeper...what if the combination of foods and the chemicals in my food is actually making me fat?? Combine that with only occasional exercise and voila - I'm chunky! 
So, today I'm starting with breakfast. My girls wanted pancakes. Instead of the usual box of Bisquick, I found a recipe using whole wheat flour. I made them from scratch and they were really good. Now, my next chore is to get rid of the Aunt Jemina syrup containing high fructose corn syrup amongst many other unmentionables. I think I'm going to try a recipe for homemade syrup using fruit. Tonight's dinner is Chicken Tacos. I'm cutting up red, yellow and orange bell peppers into strips. Then I will stir-fry them (no oil) with onions. I'll brown some organic chicken breasts cut into strips (seasoned with cumin, garlic, salt & pepper) and spread some non-fat refried beans on a corn tortilla. OK - so the beans are canned, not made from dried beans. But, as I said, it's a slow process. This is something my kids like and it's healthy and quick!
Alright, so Day 1 is almost over. I feel good. I'm off to a good start. I just wish it wasn't 95 degrees outside so I could go for a walk. I just ate a fat-free Fig Newton...slip!