One week in. . .

So after a lot more research, I think I've found something that better fits what our family is looking for.  And that would be a REAL food diet.  I've found some great resources for this (and will share them in the next post) and feel it will be an easier change for our family to make in a progression toward becoming healthier.  We're in the process of talking through as a family exactly what our diet will look like, what our "rules" will be, and the time frame we're looking at.  But here's where we are starting:  I will not buy anything else that is not real food until January 1, 2011 and at that time we'll decide how its going and reevaluate how we want to proceed.

So what qualifies as Real Food?  This is the blog we're following to help us on our journey right now.  This family is farther into their journey and we're hoping to model a lot of what they've done, but have a few other ideas as well that incorporates some ideas that we've learned from reading a number of raw food websites.

However as a busy mom to 4 I'll try blogging as much as possible, but I foresee this being more as accountability than fantastic writing about real food eating! ha ha ha  So I'm off to shower, then pack up the kiddos for voting and grocery shopping!

Welcome!

Welcome!  My name is Bethany and this is the first blog post.  Read on to see what you might discover here.  This is a completely new venture for me, and one I'm secretly trying to bring my family on as well.  What adventure is that you may ask?  Well first a bit about us.

We're you're semi-typical (well maybe not really) American family.  My husband and I grew up in the same small town, dated in high school, and were married in 2003.  We've built our family by adoption and have the 4 most wonderful children ever.  We reside in Northern Virginia where I'm a stay at home mother who home educates our eldest three children and my husband is a producer with a local media company.  We rent a town house, have a peculiar dog named Belle, and the friendliest cat named Skat.  We have wonderful friends and family close by and around the world.

So why start this blog?  Well we consume a SAD (Standard American Diet) and I haven't been feeling too healthy lately, my husband and I have put on some weight, we've found ourselves going through the Mc Donald's drive thru a little to often and have noticed a complete lack of energy.  So while we feel satisfied in many areas of our lives, I've been thinking I really want to make a change towards a much healthier life style.  I want a lifestyle of eating that will actually bring me life and not suck life and energy out of me!  So this started me on a quest for what that might look like.

I considered just  "losing some weight"  "exercising more"  "making better food choices" and the like.  All the cliche phrases that come across one's mind when thinking about becoming healthier.  I'm still in the discovery phase of what this might look like, but I'm leaning towards pursuing a RAW food diet.  This would be such a drastic 180 degree change I'm not sure how this could happen in our family.  Questions I have are:

• Is this realistic?
• Is it financially possible?
• What will my friends and family think?
• What will we eat?
• Is this a healthy choice for myself and family?

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about raw foodism I think for us it will be a slow transition especially since I have hundreds of dollars of groceries still in my cupboards and refrigerator that would not be considered raw.  But please join me as we evolve into a healthier family and discover what exactly that may look like!