Happy New Year!  For most of us, today is the official start to our healthy new year.  We’ve made resolutions to eat better, exercise, and be more organized. Am I right? It’s a new year and anything is possible.  My friends and I have a plan to help you with those healthier eating New Year’s resolutions.  Joining The Real Food Experience 2016 is one of the best and easiest ways to learn to eat a healthier real food diet.  With just a little bit of practice, it becomes a lifestyle that will stick for good.  You are definitely not alone.  There will be lots of help and support over at our Real Food Experience 2016 Facebook group .  There you will find  the 4 program presenters (myself, Gaye, Nicky, and KC) along with folks who have been through the program already and are ready to offer their insight and support.  This is the perfect place to ask questions, discover new recipes, discuss issues as they arise, and so much more.  We are making friends, having fun, and learning a healthy lifestyle that will really last this time.  For more information on the Real Food Experience 2016, check out my official Real Food Experience 2016 page.

 

 

Week 1 Challenge:

This week is our week to get organized.  After the holidays my kitchen is a mess and I’ll be getting organized right along side of you.  If you don’t already cook on a regular basis, your kitchen is going to be going through some big changes.  This week’s challenge has 3 parts:

Kitchen Clean-Out:  It’s time to toss out or donate all of the processed food both in the cupboards and the refrigerator.  If you think it’s not healthy then it’s probably not.   You will also want to toss all of the holiday leftovers.  They are old now.  There is no reason to keep that tiny piece of leftover turkey.  You are going to want to make room for lots of real healthy food.

Grocery Store Research:  You are going to be changing the way you shop if you have been primarily buying processed food.  Look at your local grocery stores and find out where you can do the bulk of your real food shopping.  Are there stores in your area that carry bulk grains or stores that carry a wide variety of organic produce?  Which store in town has the best prices on organic foods?  My husband and I realized that one of our favorite stores for organic produce only carries “natural” tomato sauce in a can.  The other store in town (with less organic produce) actually carries more canned organic items.  Keep in mind that you will now be shopping primarily the perimeter of the store.  There is no reason for you to dive into the processed food middle anymore.  Make some notes to make your meal planning easier.

Label Reading 101:  Start reading labels.  Not the front of the package, but the back of the package.  Look at ingredients.  A rule I like to use is that if a packaged product has more than 5 ingredients, I usually don’t buy it.  I try to avoid products that are full of ingredients that I don’t have at home to cook with and ingredients that I can’t pronounce.

There you go……..a quick overview of this week’s challenge.  There is plenty to do no matter where you are on your real food journey.  I’ll be back later this week with more information to help you with each of these challenges.  You will also want to check out posts over at Calm.Healthy.Sexy, Little Family Adventure, and The Kitchen Chopper for more advice and tips.

Good luck with this week’s challenge.  We would love to see your progress.  Share before and after pictures in the Facebook group and if you are on Twitter or Instagram use #RFE2016.  Your pictures will certainly help and encourage us all to make healthier changes for our families.  Please leave me a comment below if you have any questions or want to share your progress with us.  I can’t wait to hear from you!