Wow!  Can you believe it is week 7 of the Real Food Experience already? I can’t believe how quickly time flies.  We started the Real Food Experience with the new year.  I like to take this time with my readers each year to focus on what we are eating and work at enhancing our cooking skills.  The Real Food Experience is a systematic approach to dumping the harmful ingredients found in fast and processed food and getting back to eating real food.  Food that is closer to nature than it is to science.  Sounds like a good idea, right!?  You can join us this week and get caught up by checking out our other weekly challenges on the Real Food Experience page.  You can also join our Real Food Experience Facebook group and join the conversation going on over there.

 

Like many of our other weekly challenges, the level of difficulty this week depends on where you start from.  This week’s challenge is all about drinking real beverages.  If you are used to drinking soda, energy drinks and sports drinks then this is going to be extremely difficult for you.  If your typical drink is water then this week will be quite easy.

When I made the change to real food, my family questioned me about everything.  Why couldn’t they have this?  Why could they no longer eat that? They were willing to change up their favorite meals when I explained to them that I loved them and that I was concerned  about them eating harmful ingredients.  However, when I changed out their favorite drinks for real beverages all I heard were complaints.  “I want something that tastes good.”  “This doesn’t really quench my thirst like this artificially colored and sugar filled drink does.”  Ummm………too bad guys.  We are making the change.  The good news……..with time and practice a new normal can be achieved and most (probably not all) of the complaints will go away.

The challenge this week is to drink only a select few real beverages: Water, Milk, Coffee, and Tea. 

I bet I lost most of you there.  If you are still with me, remember that this is a challenge week.  I didn’t say that you can’t drink other beverages ever again. I am asking you to challenge yourself to keep it simple this week. Really focus on purging extra sugar, color, and artificial ingredients out of your system.  Water is really all we need to drink……..especially kids.  They really don’t need all of the added sugar found in drink pouches, flavored waters,  and juice boxes. I bet if you stopped to calculate how much sugar you drink each day, you would be blown away.  Water is good for us in so many ways.  Let’s work on this extremely important and healthy habit.  Most of us just don’t get enough water on a daily basis.  Let’s work on that this week.

Nutrition advice can be confusing because it seems to change so often, but one piece of advice never changes.  Water is healthy.  There is no denying that fact. I’ve got a friend stopping by this week to discuss some of the health benefits of water.  It is quite amazing just how powerful simple H2O really is.

OK…..it’s your turn now.  Let’s get to this.  One beverage at a time make the switch from unhealthy to the healthy lifestyle you want and your body craves. What do you think is going to be the most difficult about this week?  Do you have to give up soda?  Do you think you drink enough water on a

For simple recipes your family is sure to love make sure you check out my recipe index.  I am adding new recipes all of the time so make sure you check back often.  You will also want to grab this free meal-planning printable calendar to make your meal planning easier.  It has areas to plan your daily activities and your evening meal prep.