One step at a time

I try to feed my girls healthy food. Lately, it seems like they've been getting way more sugar than I prefer them to have, but it's been an off week. Sometimes I think about the sort of "journey" I've had in learning about what is truly healthy food.

Growing up, Mom ate wheat bread. Dad ate white, and us kids usually did too. As I got older, I started having wheat bread as well. When I got married and did my own shopping, I bought wheat bread.

A year or so later, I realized I'd been buying brown bread, not really wheat bread. If it says "enriched flour" it's not really wheat (well, it's made from wheat, but so is white bread). I learned that I needed to buy 100% Whole wheat bread. It was a bit more spendy, but that was ok.

Later still, I found out about nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup (HCFS) and discovered that it is in most 100% Whole Wheat bread. Ridiculous. So I looked around and found HCFS-free bread. It can be hard. At Safeway, it's generally $2.50 when it's on a good sale. Normally closer to $4 though. Thankfully, I don't have to buy it there very often! I try to hit bread outlets, where I can get it for $.99-$1.29 a loaf. Super deal! Or, I get it at Winco when I do my general grocery shopping for $1.68.

Many other areas of our diet have been the same way. When you know better you do better. I have learned many things over the years, and I know I'll keep learning more. I like looking back at the things I've learned and how I've applied them. It's an interesting journey, at least to me. It may be boring to you, though!

If you see me at the grocery store, you'll see me checking labels on just about everything I pick up. The things I watch for the MOST are HFCS and other artificial sweeteners (sucralose, splenda, aspartame--except in my occasional diet pepsi) and partially hydrogenated oils. I've started learning about some other things to avoid, but those are the biggest ones at the moment. And even when I've found something that is free of those things, I still check the box most of the time, because I've discovered that some products change what they have. I had found some crackers that didn't have hydrogenated oils, but the next time I checked the box they did.

Grocery shopping is enjoyable to me. Finding healthy ways to feed my girls--and spending as little as possible to do it--is so enjoyable to me!