First Steps

Today I would like to share with you some of the first changes that our family made. I wouldn't suggest doing everything overnight. Take it one step at a time and you will be surprised how quickly things around your house will change. So what is most important to change first? I'm sure everyone would have different priorities based on their situation but here are the steps that we took.

1. Purge your pantry and refrigerator of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and products with an ingredient list that are a paragraph long. Prior to our lifestyle change, I had been an avid couponer. I bought whatever products I could get for rock bottom prices and then created our meals around that. Needless to say, our food stockpile consisted mostly of processed food. If you don't keep very many things on hand, you could phase things out, but we had so many things that I decided just to purge. For items that I had multiples of, I would keep just one. We ended up taking two rather large boxes of food to the food pantry nearby, and then began to slowly restock our pantry with healthier items. I wish I could give you a simple list of the items that contained HFCS but sadly it has made its way into so many food products. HFCS turns into fat much quicker than other sugars and can deceive your body into thinking it needs more sugar than it really does. While some information about HFCS right now will say that it's no different than sugar and has the same calories, sugar isn't all that great for you either. So limit your sugar too. We'll talk about the best sugar options available soon. I don't want to overwhelm you all in one day; we must take baby steps. Know the ingredients of what you're consuming and if you can't pronounce an ingredient, you probably shouldn't be eating it.

2. Increase your whole food consumption. Buy mostly plants. This is a great time of year to begin this. Visit your local farmer's market to get delicious, fresh, nutrient filled fruits and vegetables. If you want to think ahead for the winter, buy a little extra each time and freeze it. The Environmental Working Group has posted the 2010 Dirty Dozen List showing what produce is the most important to buy organic based on testing for pesticide levels. Don't overwhelm yourself with buying everything organic. Start with the most important.

3. Stop using air fresheners and fragrance items. Fragrances are often created with phthalates which are chemicals and are probable carcinogens! Your house doesn't need Febreze to be clean and you don't need perfume to smell nice, just take a shower. Do you know how synthetic (imitation) fragrances work? They attach to your nose hairs and numb your nose to that smell. That is why you don't smell your perfume after a while. Indoor air is actually more toxic than outdoor. So open the windows whenever possible and stop adding more chemicals to the air that you breathe. Houseplants are a great way to clean the air in your house, just make sure that they are safe for your pets. There are many other culprits that contribute to "dirty" air, but these are the easiest changes to make first.

I will continue this list in the coming days. Up next: Making your own homemade cleaners.